The Golem and the Girl
by dooder's nin
Summary: Caring and obsessing; loving and possessing. Dueling and letting go. When Frankie unintentionally summons a medieval golem who swears an oath to protect and care for her every need or desire, she resolves to help him become his own creature, seeing a bit of herself in him as he enters the world anew. But she soon learns why he was hidden away as he tries to save her from herself


An impromptu show put on by the girls had them all spending the rest of the afternoon cleaning the attic of the school again since apparently one its special features was to return to a mess after a week or so, no matter how hard any ghouls tried to keep things in order. That, and it seemed that there was always being more added to the collection. Frankie sighed at their punishment, Cleo whining the loudest at the indecency of their punishment that was completely unjustified in the mummy's mind. She was used to such rants as much as the others, but she was missing spending the afternoon at the maul that she had hoped would take her mind off the fact that Jackson was still going to be away for another couple of days while he and his father spent some father-son bonding time at some convention with his mother having to act as the supervisory figure to both boys. She smiled as she thought about how difficult that was going to be for Mrs. Jekyll, having witnessed how alike father and son could be in their disregard for anything aside from whatever they became absorbed in.

"I know that smile." Draculaura teased her, causing Frankie to blush as she realized her musings where not so subtle. "Missing Jackson already?" she asked as she dusted off another item that caused Clawdeen to sneeze.

"Ugh…and I thought my sister was over-exaggerating when she described this place." Clawdeen said, making them think about Howleen's misadventure after spending the afternoon up here too. Ghoulia moaned in agreement as she did her best to maneuver around the objects on the floor. Unfortunately, the zombie's clumsy characteristics caused her to clip the edge of one of the boxes and to shout out and reach out to Cleo. The mummy's eyes widened but she was able to keep her friend upright, although not without the two of them bumping into a shelf and knocking a few things off.

"Uh oh…" Draculaura said as they looked at the mess that was on the floor, cringing as she saw that it looked like a few things might have gotten broken.

"You two okay?" Frankie asked her friends, who nodded, Ghoulia apologizing to the others. But Frankie gave them both a small smile. "You don't need to feel bad about it. I definitely understand having less than graceful movements." She said, holding up her hands in a shrugging motion. She was only glad that Abbey and Lagoona hadn't also had to cram themselves into the tiny room, having instead gotten to help out in the kitchens thawing out the thicker icy areas of the freezer – a task Abbey didn't seem to understand as a problem, making Lagoona's afternoon at least somewhat amusing.

"Oh hey, what's this?" Frankie said, picking up a metal piece that looked like it had been incased in a pretty pink rock. "How did it get inside this?" she said, turning it over in her hands.

"Careful Frankie. There could be a very good reason somebody took the time to cover it in that stuff…" Clawdeen said as Frankie looked over the small, silver bell. But Frankie shrugged, not seeing any markings on it, gesturing with it as though to ring it but no sound came from it.

"Guess it was just busted. Must be the pink stuff that was trouble." Dracularua said. "It's pretty though…." She said, bending over to poke at the transparent pink rock before deciding to sweep it up into one of the trash bags that they had with them. Frankie looked a little disappointed, but seeing as there was no immediate way to fix it, put the bell back on the shelf.

"Wait a minute. Anybody else hear that?" Clawdeen said, ears erect as she looked around. Frankie tensed, worried that she might have actually done something but unsure how that could possibly be the case. Clawdeen looked around another couple of times but seemed to lose whatever it was that she had been trying to pinpoint.

"Alright. Let's hurry things up in here and head out before we do anything else." Cleo said, picking up the remaining pieces on the floor. "I'd like to get out of here sooner rather than later anyway." She complained, the others rolling their eyes but agreeing with her sentiment anyway. They only had another ten minutes or so to stay up in the attic according to Headmistress Bloodgood, but they figured if they headed out a little early, nobody would mind too much.

As they were leaving, Clawdeen paused again. "I know I heard something that time." She said, pushing the door back open and walking inside. Draculaura groaned, but reluctantly followed her friend back inside alongside Frankie. "Come on Clawdeen. Let's just go already." The vampire whined, pulling gently on her friend's sleeve.

"She's right Clawdeen. We already shut the lights and I can't really see where the switch is anymore…" Frankie said, walking over in the general direction they had found the elusive light switch, having spent a good portion of the time using their phones to light the walls to actually find the switch. As she made to humor her friend by spending a little more time in the attic, she figured she might as well do so in the light. But, as she commented to Ghoulia about her own clumsy nature, she tripped and was about to face-plant into the wall when she felt strong arms catch her and right her on her feet again. Looking up, she could only see glowing yellow eyes staring back at her. She felt her breath catch as she tried to scream, but the figure simply turned the switch back on and she along with the others gasped as a gray-ish man in a medieval knight's outfit stood there, silver cape draping his shoulders down to his waist from where it was attached to the minimal amount of armor he wore. Frankie couldn't deny that this boy looked handsome, yet with an unsettling aura that came from his eyes, black where the whites of anyone else's eyes might be that clued her in that he was different from anyone she had met before.

"Who are you? And how did you get up here?" Cleo asked, coming into the room. "Were you here the whole time, spying on us? Creepy!" she said, Frankie still holding onto one of the boy's hands as he continued to stand there and stare at her. She blushed under his unwavering gaze before pulling her hand away and nervously coughing. "You should answer her." Frankie said to him. As though waiting for that kind of a response from Frankie, the boy turned to Cleo and finally took his gaze off of Frankie.

"Yes, I have been here the whole time. I was not watching you, though, I assure you ladies. I had been awaiting a summons from the next person who should require my assistance and guardianship." He replied, giving them a short bow with a flourish of his cape. The girls predictably swooned at the soft tone in which he spoke and the way he addressed them, admiring how he grandly flourished his cape. "As the bell tolls, so shall I be summoned." He said, turning to Frankie.

"Another genie?!" Clawdeen said. "What is it with this school? They have a stock supply of spare genies lying around?" she asked, throwing up her hands at the possibility of a repeat of Gigi's introduction to the school. But the man seemed to ignore her, looking to Frankie before answering.

"Oh! Yes…um…you can speak on your own." She said, blushing at how she had apparently been designated 'master' for this boy.

"I am no genie. Nor do I possess the same abilities although I too have a limited scope of magic to adequately benefit the needs of my charge." He said, picking up the bell off the shelf to hand to Frankie. "I am a golem. I exist to serve and serve to continue my existence." He said, Frankie hesitatingly taking the bell.

"You don't…" Frankie started to say, but Cleo's shake of her head had her pause. "What?" she asked her friend, Cleo smiling before dragging Frankie off to the side.

"You don't immediately release a golem Frankie…" Cleo said. "They tend to go off the deep end without having something firm for them to understand other than the desire to want to make their master safe and happy." She said, looking over to where the golem stood still, watching as Cleo spoke with Frankie and not moving at all. His grayish-appearance only made his similarity to a statue that Deuce might have made all the more poignant. "Besides…there might be a reason why he was put away with such measures to keep that bell from ringing again. But it might not be so bad to have yourself your very own servant you know." She said, switching back to her usual self in regards to the concepts of royalty and servitude. Frankie tried to keep up with the rapid shift from informative warning to her suggestion of letting him cater to her every whim.

"Um…okay then." Frankie said, walking back over to look up into the golem's face. "What do I call you?" she asked. The man only looked down at her with an expressionless face before giving her a short answer. "Whatever you wish." He said.

Frankie sighed. "Alright. We'll figure that part out in a minute. Um, where are you supposed to live?" she asked. But the way the man stood and looked at her, she could tell he was going to give her a similar response. "Wherever you…" he began to say, before Frankie finished it for him.

"Wherever I wish." Frankie said, rubbing her face with her hand. "Oh, what am I supposed to do now? I'm not sure what to do or what to tell my parents or what to Headmistress Bloodgood – oh no!" she said, eyes widening and hands flying to her mouth.

"Do you need protection from this 'Headmistress Bloodgood'?" the golem asked, withdrawing from his belt a short sword that the girls were sure they hadn't seen there before.

"No! No! It's okay…" Frankie said, making wild gestures with her arms in a stopping motion. But being as overwhelmed as she was, her friends could hear the stiches start to tear.

"Frankie, watch it!" Draculaura said, but unfortunately it was too late, as Frankie's right arm became detached at the elbow, causing the girls to duck as Frankie squeaked at having flung one of her limbs again. However, that wasn't necessary as the golem quickly caught her arm in the air, walking over to her and beginning to gently but efficiently stitch it back on.

"Wow…" Frankie breathed, amazed how fast and how tight he had made the stiches without pulling on her skin either as he tied them. He continued to gently massage the area until the familiar uncomfortable tingling that she experienced each time she lost and replaced a limb went away. "That feels great." Frankie sighed, the others watching in awe at how naturally the golem had begun to look out for Frankie.

"Maybe you're right Cleo." Frankie said, smiling to her friends. "I guess he's not so bad after all. He's got quite the magic touch." She said, flexing her arm and laughing to her friends. "Maybe we should call him Midas."

"Midas had the _golden touch_, Frankie. He's clearly got a silver costume…" Cleo said, pointing to him. But Draculaura laughed. "Then it will be an ironic name. I like it Frankie. Nice to meet you Midas." She said, giving him a wave as she smiled. The golem gave Frankie a look that she could almost describe as curious before Frankie nodded to him with her own gentle smile and he turned to awkwardly copy Draculaura's motion.

"Okay. Can we get outta here now for real?" Clawdeen asked, Ghoulia moaning and pointing at her watch to remind them that their friends were likely waiting for them in the courtyard. Frankie nodded and walked out, Midas following her the whole way as they walked out into the courtyard to see Abbey and Lagoona relaxing on one of the benches.

"Whoa! You find handsome in mess upstairs?" Abbey asked as she noticed the additional member that had joined the group. Lagoona also looked a little admiringly at the golem before blushing as she realized she had been staring. "We find only old fish sticks. Still good though." Abbey said, turning Lagoona's face into a grimace as she recalled the image of watching Abbey actually eat the leftover foods they found in the freezer. She would never be able to understand the yeti's constitution if that was a part of her monster's kind of diet. Shaking her head to clear the thought, she looked over to Frankie, since it seemed that she and he were attached at the hip.

"Abbey, Lagoona, meet Midas." Frankie said by way of introduction. "Midas, these are more of my friends. Like I told you, it's okay if they get close and I would like you to talk to them too if they ask you something." she said, earning curious looks from Abbey and Lagoona. Frankie smiled and turned to Lagoona and Abbey after Midas gave her a short nod.

"Look who found herself a golem" Clawdeen remarked in a teasing tone. Lagoona and Abbey remained where they were standing in shock. Frankie nervously laughed. "Yeah…I might have summoned him when we were cleaning in the attic. He's very protective but he seems okay" she said, although her friends still seemed doubtful.

"Well, this should make things interesting for a while." Lagoona said. "Is he gonna stay with you at your house too?" she asked. Frankie bit her bottom lip as she silently admitted to her friends that she wasn't sure what to do with him.

"He's not going to stay very far away from you anyway. Just tell your parents the truth this time." Draculaura said, Frankie's shoulders sagging as she realized that there was no other way of getting around that detail.

"I like cape. Bold move not many can pull off." Abbey said, going to touch the fabric to see what it might be made out of, appearing as though actual strands of silver had been woven together so tightly as to make an actual cloth-like material. Midas hadn't moved much unless Frankie had spoken to him, or to follow her if she got too far from him, but he did halt Abbey's hand. "Hey, let go!" Abbey said, tugging a few times to get her wrist out of his tight grip.

"Midas, don't hurt her!" Frankie said, alarm on her face. Midas let go of Abbey's wrist, his look hard, but he turned his gaze away from Abbey to look at Frankie. "It would not be wise for you or any of your friends to touch my cape. It would harm both myself and whomever lays their hands on it." He said, standing straight again as he had when they had first come down. Abbey rubbed her wrist as she backed away, Frankie looking apologetically at her friend to make sure that she was alright.

"Alright. We get it. No touching the cape…" Cleo said, moving away from Ghoulia's side to cautiously whisper to Frankie, Midas watching her every move as she got close to Frankie. "I told you he might be defective. Please be careful." Cleo said, genuine worry for her friend visible in her eyes. Frankie nodded and Cleo pulled away, addressing everyone in the group. "How about we all head over to the maul now and meet up with the guys? Midas I'm sure will fit in fine…" she said, the others finding that hard to believe but willing to do something to get rid of the tension that had developed. For some reason, the situation seemed to be more complicated than what they would have expected, Cleo's lingering warning repeating itself over and over in Frankie's mind as they made their way to the maul.

As expected, Midas followed Frankie closely as they strolled through the mall, dutifully carrying her things when she asked. She found he wasn't so bad, even if he didn't have very many thoughts or observations of his own. But it was the way that he watched her that kept her on edge. She thought he really was going to follow her into one of the dressing rooms the first time she had picked out an outfit with Draculaura to go try on. She had a hard time convincing him to keep completely out of the dressing room, finding him lingering in the doorway when she came out to get her friends' opinions.

The guys also had a difficult time figuring out how to handle being around him, choosing to more or less only talk to him a few times. Midas had responded to them as Frankie had instructed him to do, but they found he didn't seem to want to more than what his task was supposed to be. Heath had a great time getting him to eat a slice of his favorite kind of extremely spicy pepperoni pizza, amazed at how he didn't react at all. He'd done the same to Jackson but his cousin's reaction was far more hilarious.

"Hey Deuce…look at this. Midas, do it again." Heath said, pushing a pepper toward him. Midas took the offered vegetable and ate the thing whole. Heath laughed again. "It doesn't do anything to him. He must have no taste buds." The elemental laughed, finding amusement in all this.

"Dude, leave him alone. For all you know, he hates the stuff. He _can't_ say no to you." Deuce said, sitting next to Heath as they waited for the girls to come out of the ladies room. They'd had a hard time convincing him that certain rooms were just off-limits for guys.

"I cannot" Midas said. "But if I may, perhaps some water?" he asked, taking them by surprise at the initiative he had taken in actually responding to them on his own. Gil slid a glass over to him, which Midas took it and quickly downed it all in a few gulps.

"Hey man. You should've said something. I'm not that bad." Heath said, looking a little guilty. "But that was pretty cool how you didn't even break a sweat." He said, shying away from the looks the others were sending him. "Aw come on. It was all in good fun." He said, Clawd shaking his head at Heath's typical behavior.

"So dude, since you seem plenty capable of actually talking with us…" Deuce began, Midas looking over to him as much as he could without taking his eyes off of the restroom corridor, "…your name actually Midas or do you want us to call you by your real name?" he asked.

"Frankie won't mind if you correct her. She's a sweet girl." Clawd said, taking the last pepper from Heath before he could do anything else, tossing it in the trash despite his friend's protest, even if Heath didn't plan on eating it either. Midas blinked a couple of times, pausing long enough for them to think he'd said all he intended to say.

"She is a sweet girl." Midas repeated, seeming to ponder the words in his head. Clawd chuckled, "Yeah. I'm sure she'll help you find a place in the world. But don't go getting any ideas – she's already got a boyfriend."

"You haven't answered my question though dude." Deuce said, not liking the look that the golem seemed to make at the mention of Jackson. He could only imagine what an encounter between him and Holt might be like if Midas was still hanging around by the time Jackson got back. Midas quickly reverted to his neutral expression, the others apparently not noticing the change that had come over the golem.

"I haven't been given a name before. I was simply called Golem. But I prefer the name Midas to just a title." He said. "Frankie was kind enough to claim me as her own when she gave me a name." he informed them.

"Whoa…that doesn't sound good." Gil said, the others also looking a little concerned. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"I am to continue to protect her. I am hers." He said, not seeming to understand how creepy he sounded. "And she is mine." He said, his look briefly shifting away from where he had been staring.

"Not cool." Heath said. "Did you not hear what we were saying to you about her boyfriend? The one who just happens to be my cousin?" he said, hair igniting a little and Midas pulling away from him.

"I am to be by her side. That is all I intended. She is my mistress." He said, returning to watch the girls come out of the bathroom. Heath still seemed a little on edge, Gil shoving him on the shoulder to get him to calm down before he set something in the maul on fire and got them all kicked out.

"Everything alright here?" Abbey asked, eyeing her boyfriend with a concerned look. She knew he tended to overdo it with his flame now and then, but he didn't seem to be in his usual goofy manner.

"Yeah, let's just head home guys." Clawd said, warily looking over at his sister to help him out in convincing the others to call it a day. She seemed to understand and soon they were all walking out of the maul, Heath not letting the golem out of his sights. Frankie said her goodbyes as they split up, Midas offering her his arm as he carried her things with ease. She blushed but took it anyway, following Cleo's advice to just let the golem serve as he felt was necessary. It was going to be a long night and school the next day would be even more daunting for her, she thought, wondering how to get herself out of another mess she'd created.

* * *

"So…how'd it go last night?" Cleo asked as she and Frankie were seeking refuge in the ladies room with Draculaura, Midas having finally figured out that the rules for one bathroom applied to all bathrooms. Frankie blushed before answering, seeming to do a lot of that lately even without having her boyfriend around.

"Well, dad was hard to convince to let Midas stay the night. Especially since he kept finding his way to my bedroom no matter what room my father locked him in." Frankie said. "I guess he's using those magic skills he talked about…but anyway, like I said, he kept showing up in my room." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"He insisted on helping me do everything – literally, everything, including bathing and dressing." Frankie said, Draculuara and Cleo giggling at Frankie's embarrassment. Cleo had lived through that sort of thing for millennia, not seeing the same problem as Frankie.

"But, he's speaking more on his own and he's actually very nice. He made me breakfast and did my hair and does all sorts of little things…" Frankie said, trailing off as she smiled, thinking about how much more like an actual person – human or monster – that Midas seemed to be learning to become.

"Frankie…speaking from experience…" Draculaura began, bringing up the sore topic of what happened between her and Valentine, and the resulting guilt and apologies to Clawd for weeks afterward. "Watch yourself. Don't let your guard down because of how charming he may seem. Especially since you seem to forgetting all about Jackson. Have you called him at all since yesterday?" she asked.

Frankie shifted her stance, her face betraying her reluctance in admitting what was happening. "I called him…just…yesterday we were busy since the beginning of the day and then I thought I would get to it last night, but that seemed to be difficult to do with Midas hanging around so I thought I would text him over breakfast…." She rambled, Draculaura shaking her head.

"Frankie…." Dracularua whined, "Don't do to him what I did to Clawd. You've seen how he reacts when Jackson is Jackson. Holt's not going to handle the idea of another guy trying to get to you while he was gone." Draculaura said, Frankie nodding in understanding.

"Midas does seem to be more and more like an actual person, but we need to find out what might have made his last master decide to put him away like that…" Cleo said. "He may be using magic on you like Valentine did to Draculaura, but it doesn't seem like it. Although, he was awfully clingy to that cape." Cleo whispered, aware that the golem was likely right at the door.

"No…he showed me when I asked what kind of magic he could do." Frankie said. "I told him not to hide anything from me. I don't think he has any mind control…just very intense eyes." She said, sighing again. A series of loud bangs on the door caused the three of them to jump a little before realizing it was Midas signaling that he was waiting. Frankie gave a huff. "I told him if he got too anxious that I wasn't coming back out to knock on the door. I think that was his version of that." She said to her friends. "Just a minute, Midas!" Frankie called out, walking over to grab her bag off the sink. "We should head out before he decides to come in. I told him not to, but he seems to be able to bend what I say more and more. He might just come in." she said, pushing the door open and spotting Midas standing across from the door against the wall.

The rest of the day seemed to go with just a few hiccups, Frankie learning how much Heath came to distrust the golem. But Midas had been gentle with her the whole day, his expression becoming softer when she would give him a real laugh or smile at something he did or said as he made her more comfortable. Draculaura kept shooting her warning looks, but Frankie thought that there couldn't be any harm in trying to befriend the golem before she found a way to gently ease him into the world on his own. She had created Hoodude and spent only a day with him before she pushed him off on his own. The fact that she hadn't realized that he had actually gained a consciousness didn't help ease the guilty feeling she occasionally got for a little while after he picked up a life of his own. She wanted to avoid a similar situation, hoping that he would be able to develop his own personality more before releasing him, once she figured out how to do that without traumatizing him like Cleo warned. She also had to deal with the lingering question of what would make someone decide to pretty much toss aside a perfectly good helper like it appeared had happened to Midas.

Lunch was more difficult, as Midas took it upon himself to stand guard beside Frankie while she ate with her friends, refusing to sit at the table under the explanation that he would not be able to see if anyone was to come up behind her or from other areas of the creepateria should he sit beside her. Lagoona had laughed, Clawdeen finding it humorous too. Frankie had shot glares to the two, but said nothing to try and eat quickly and find a quiet spot away from prying eyes. She was certain that Spectra had already snapped several pictures of her and Midas standing as close as he did to her as he hovered, being bolder than he had been the day before in how close he got, even occasionally brushing a hand against hers. She desperately prayed that nothing would be put up on the blog that she couldn't rectify before her boyfriend got back.

"What did you do to have to have a guard?" Torelai's voice floated over to Frankie as she turned to see the werecat walking over to the table. As ordered, Midas hadn't immediately pulled out his sword, which apparently was one of his magical features. His sword had become a dagger, a crossbow, a lance, and various other weapons as a demonstration for Frankie the other night, and Frankie was seriously wondering how long he'd been away based on the types of weapons he had created.

"Torelai, not today." Frankie said, hoping her directness would clue the other girl into realizing that there was something going on that she shouldn't be messing around with. But the werecat's curious nature seemed to be too much as she pressed further.

"Oh…so when Jackson's away, Frankie gets to play…" she said with a smirk on her face. Frankie stood up quickly, highly insulted at the implication. "Excuse me? Take that back!" Frankie said, but Torelai seemed to have been hoping for such a reaction, purring in delight.

"No, I don't think I will. Smile." She said, taking a picture of Frankie standing closely beside Midas. Frankie reached for Torelai's phone before the werecat could edit the picture to look like something far beyond what was actually in the picture. But Torelai pulled back quickly, Frankie ending up banging her forearm on the table as she reached for the phone.

"Oh, ow…" Frankie complained, Torelai laughing at Frankie's stunt. But Midas didn't seem to find anything amusing, lurching forward and catching onto Torelai's tail as she turned to get away, eyes widening at the golem's motion. Torelai growled as he pulled her tail and picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder before Frankie could say otherwise. Midas flung Torelai off to the side, her landing on her feet only due to her natural ability to twist in the air and land on her feet.

"Whoa…" Clawdeen said. "Not that she doesn't deserve a good scare every now and then, but she could've been hurt!" she said, Midas standing protectively in front of Frankie. Frankie turned to say something to him, but he scooped her off her feet and quickly marched out of the room with her, the others shouting out after them.

Frankie was overwhelmed enough that all she could manage was a short shout of protest before she found herself alone with Midas outside the school. "Midas, put me down. I'm okay." She said, Midas gently placing her gently down to sit on one of the benches. He picked up her arm to see that she had managed to make a small scrape, having jammed it hard enough against the side of the table in her haste to reach over it to grab at Torelai's phone. He looked it over, holding her arm tightly even as she tried to pull away, motioning with his cape over the injured area. Frankie was stunned as she felt the stinging ease and watched as her injury was mended. It was apparent that he hadn't exaggerated when he said he had some healing abilities that only could be used for his master.

"Thanks." Frankie breathed out, finding herself sparking at the bolts a little at the intimate position that she seemed to have found herself in with Midas. She looked up at him, expecting him to continue to be inspecting where she had been injured, but leaned back a little when she found him looking directly at her face.

"Might I have to protect you from yourself Frankie?" Midas asked of her, making her fidget a little under his gaze. She took a step back, putting a hand on his chest to give her some space, giving a nervous chuckle as she realized that he had finally decided to use her name instead of calling her mistress.

"Thank you Midas, but I've got that covered." She said, seeing the girls coming out to meet with them. Midas gave her a small smile, taking her further by surprise. "Hey, you smiled!" she said, giving one of her own to him as he seemed to be developing his own awareness of himself.

The girls ran up beside her, Midas stepping closer to Frankie again, a hand on her shoulder as the smile slipped off his face. "You alright Frankie?" Abbey asked, Frankie giving a quick nod.

"That's good. But Torelai seemed to have tattled and Headmistress Bloodgood is on her way over here." Clawdeen said. "Not usually her style but I guess your golem here scared the stripes off her coat in some spots." She said, a slight smirk on her face.

"Oh no…" Frankie groaned, smacking a hand to her face. Midas withdrew his sword again, causing the girls to take a step back.

"That's one way to get out of a detention…" Cleo said, "But you should get him to sheath that thing before the headmistress decides to suspend you for bringing a weapon to school." she said to Frankie.

"No one shall suspend my mistress from anything." Midas said, pulling Frankie behind him who widened her eyes in surprise at the sudden motion.

"No genius, she didn't mean literally suspended in the air from something. She meant she's gonna get kicked out of school for a couple of days or something." Clawdeen said, her frustration making her caution around the golem drop as the sarcasm in her tone became more noticeable.

"Then that is a good plan. We shall do that." Midas said, sheathing his sword. Frankie sighed, relieved in her assumption that he had listened to the advice of her friends and was doing as Cleo said with his weapon. But it seemed there were more surprises to be had as Midas once again held her bridal style and began to walk off school property.

"What are you doing?!" Lagoona shouted out, Frankie looking over Midas' shoulder with a pleading look on her face for her friends to do something as her requests to be put down were being ignored now by the golem. Frankie found herself panicking as she realized that he had rapidly progressed from following all commands no matter how ridiculous from her or those she had said he should also obey, to making his own judgements about how best to care for Frankie. She had been flattered by his care even if she knew that it was part of the golem's duty, and had taken immense delight in hearing him use her name. But she became concerned with how much attention he seemed to now be placing on her, afraid that he might do something worse than the scare he gave Torelai to her friends.

"Um…don't worry Frankie. We'll cover for you!" Draculaura shouted to her friend as they watched her be carried off. "Just go home and we'll call you!" she said, Frankie letting her head drop onto Midas' chest in defeat. It wasn't what she wanted to hear, but it was better than having Headmistress Bloodgood think she was intentionally skipping along with starting fights in the creepateria. Midas seemed to actually tighten his grip as she let herself lean into him, a smile again forming on his face. "Do not worry Frankie. I will care for you." He said. Frankie sighed, thinking that it was that caring of his that was the problem, worried about what else he might think was necessary to care for her.

* * *

Frankie found herself back at home and placed on the couch gently by Midas, who sat beside her looking only at her. Frankie stared back, not sure what to say to him, although her irritation was definitely making a comeback and she crossed her arms as she looked away.

"Midas, why did you do that?" Frankie asked. "Torelai wasn't going to physically hurt me, but you'd taken care of that already." She said, slumping into the cushions of the couch. When the golem didn't respond, she glanced a look over at him. Midas was looking at her with more of a curious expression on her face as he watched her. She sighed and grabbed the remote off the table to turn the television on.

"You were in distress." Midas finally answered. "I am here to keep anything from harming you, be it physically or emotionally. I will care for you, even if you do not realize when you need it." Frankie looked over to him curiously, before deciding to force herself to watch the show. "I am learning, like you asked of me." He said again, Frankie stiffening as he ran a hand through her hair.

Frankie waited until he had stopped petting her to take a deep breath to keep herself calm. Midas had seemed like the literal knight in shining armor come to sweep her off her feet, but now she wondering if she should have given herself a moment to think about what was going on. She knew that as much as she would deny it to the other girls, she and they loved the idea of having the kind of unwavering attention of a handsome boy. Midas seemed to not be too much older than her physically, but she wondered just how long it had been since he had the opportunity to serve devotedly as Cleo warned her about – perhaps he had been severed from his master for too long and this was him overcompensating, she thought, trying to come up with a reasonable, less frightening answer. She swallowed thickly as Midas shifted closer to her on the couch.

"I really am glad that you're learning so much about, well, life in this day and age." Frankie said, nervously looking at Midas as he continued to hover protectively around her. "I know how difficult it can be to just be thrust into things and learn as you go." She said. "But there are still going to be times when you think one thing but something else actually is going on. Like today Midas – Headmistress Bloodgood is in charge of the school and I just didn't want her to yell at me and get into trouble for what had happened. There was no real danger and I would recover emotionally within ten minutes after everything was said and done." She said.

"But Frankie…" Midas began, whispering her name as though it was something special and secret for him. "I do not want you to have to be like that for even those ten minutes if I can protect you from it happening at all." He said. Frankie relaxed a little as he said that, believing his statement to be as innocent as it sounded.

"Oh, Midas. Those things happen and you just have to learn to deal with them. But it is very kind of you to want to do that….wait, you said _want_…" Frankie said, catching onto that detail of what he said. "That's great!" Frankie said smiling and doing exactly what she had been telling herself not to do, giving him a tight hug. "You're becoming more of your own person. Tell you what… do you _want_ to watch a movie with me? Since apparently school's out a little early for me today…" she said, turning back to grab the remote and missing how Midas' yellow eyes briefly held a tint of green to them as he watched all of Frankie's movements closely. She leaned back, not concerned too much at how much more friendly Midas had seemed since she attributed it to his development of his own character, deciding that she would just correct him if he decided to get a little too familiar. She flipped through a few stations with movies or shows on that she left on for a minute or two to see if Midas' attention was drawn to any of them. But he continued to alternate between watching Frankie and the television and scanning the room as he usually did at intervals.

"Oh, this is part of the series Jackson was watching. I haven't seen the last few episodes and Holt has been dying to spoil all the surprise twists in the story." She said, dropping the remote. "It just started. Is it alright if we watch it?" she asked. Midas nodded, his face darkening at the mention of Jackson and Holt. "I'll have to see if we have any popcorn in the pantry during one of the breaks. A good action movie isn't the same without popcorn." She said before realizing what she said. But Midas had already gotten up and was putting together a snack for her. She sighed before calling out to him her thanks.

"It is unnecessary to thank me…but I …appreciate that you do." Midas said. "I must serve, but you have given my position more than I have had since the last time I served. You try to understand, but I do not understand why." he said, saying more to her aside from the brief tangents that he occasionally went on while answering one of her questions. Frankie laughed at Midas' progress as he brought over her snack and a drink, taking it from her when he offered it to her.

"That's because I want you to be more than just a golem to me. You can be my friend Midas." Frankie said, Midas sitting back down beside her. She offered the bowl to him, Midas slowly reaching for some popcorn and giving her a small smile in return. She returned her attention back to the show, becoming engrossed in the rerun. They stayed that way until Cleo and Draculaura dropped by with Deuce and Clawd to hand her the work she had missed from their last class and whatever else they thought she might need. Even then, Midas continued to watch Frankie as he usually did, but the look on his face had changed to one of a man in deep thought over something he considered of the most importance that required any measures to keep just the way he liked – his.

* * *

The next day at school, Frankie was really hoping that her golem would be able to curb his tendencies to be so protective and, as she thought about it, possessive of her. She had finished giving a few instructions to Midas on what not to do in order to avoid a repeat of yesterday's lunch. He seemed to be just as attentive to what she was saying, giving a short nod at her request that he try to give her a little more distance and possibly to venture off more on his own. She expected him to make another comment about how that would violate his main purpose of maintaining a guard around her or to be within distance to serve her needs, but she was yet again surprised when he seemed to hesitate only briefly before giving another short nod. "I shall not stray far from where I can see you, but if you wish for me to…explore more of this land…then I will endeavor to please your desire." He said.

"Oh good!" Frankie said. "You can go explore, talk to other people…whatever you think you may need to – _or want_\- to do. Just make sure that it isn't actually anything too unreasonable. Um…if you're not sure, then whatever it is, it's probably not something you should do." She said, biting her bottom lip as she thought about that sword of his and how willing he is to use it. "You know. If you don't know and can get back to me to ask, you should probably do that…" she said, stopping as they reached her locker. Midas gave her another of the strange looks she had seen him giving her, before he once again nodded. He then grabbed her left hand, bringing it to his mouth and giving her hand a kiss. "As you command." He said.

Despite herself, she felt a warmth as he flattered her with his chivalrous behavior that she was sure belonged only to the knights in fairytales. She blushed as he continued to look deeply at her, making Frankie sigh a little at the various gestures he would make towards her that she wasn't sure were entirely necessary for the golem. Then again, based on his attire, this may have just been how he had been constructed to act like by his creator and would need more time if Frankie were to ever be successful in making him more modern. But she wasn't sure she would emphasize that little detail, finding it charming. She sighed dreamily at that, fiddling with the lock on her locker as she tried to get it open as she smiled softly at Midas. She quickly realized that she was acting like a girl with a crush, becoming embarrassed to the point of sparks emitting from her bolts. Unfortunately, as usually happened around the metal lockers when that happened, the door quickly flung itself open and she braced herself as she recognized an impending door to the face. But when no pain came, she opened her eyes to see Midas with the door in his hand, having stopped it a few inches from her face.

"Oh, Midas…" she breathed out in relief, "Thanks. That wouldn't have been a great start to the day." She said as she let the golem touch her face with the hand that wasn't holding the door. She waited a moment before pulling his hand down from her face when it seemed he wasn't going to do so on his own. "I'm fine Midas. You caught it before it could even touch me." She said, ducking under the golem's arm to stand on the other side of the locker door and finally start to gather her things. She began to pull out a notebook from one of the shelves built into the locker when something else tumbled down along with it, Midas catching it for her.

"What's this?" Frankie said, reaching to grab the thin rectangular box with a red ribbon on it. But Midas had already held it up to inspect it to see if there was any potential threat from it. Frankie made to grab the box to open it herself, but Midas did so for her, causing her to make a noise of displeasure before realizing what the box contained.

"Chocolates?" she said curiously, picking one out and experimentally biting into it before Midas could successfully stop her. "Hmmm. There are almonds inside. Dark Chocolate too. My favorite." She said, savoring the taste.

"I know." A voice said behind her, causing her to turn around, face lighting up as she saw Jackson standing in the hallway. She squealed in delight, rushing toward him to envelop him in a hug. "I take it you like my surprise then?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Which one? The chocolates or you being here a day early?" she said as she pulled away smiling. Jackson laughed as he kept one arm around her waist as they walked back over to her locker.

"We decided to come home a little early…" Jackson began. "Some guy tried to hit on my mother and my father wasn't too pleased." He said, making a face at the whole scenario. Frankie gasped but couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips that she wasn't able to quite hold back. Jackson rolled his eyes. "Let's just say that he triggered my dad's other side and we're probably not going to be allowed back to that particular convention." He said, not finding the same amount of humor that Frankie seemed to find in his story, but still giving a small smile.

"Guess Hydes are very committed to their girls then, huh?" Frankie said, chuckling a little more as Jackson turned a little red.

"It was actually _Dr. Jekyll_ who smashed the guy's glass onto his head after he said something particularly…vulgar." He said. "My dad's other side didn't come out until after he'd been tossed onto the table and broke it." He said.

"Whoa…" Frankie said, eyes widening as she imagined the scene that must have unfolded. Jackson gave a dry laugh at the look on her face. "Yeah…people tend to forget Jekylls are just as capable as Hydes since we are _technically_ the same person after all. I just have more morals than Holt." He said, holding himself a little straighter. Frankie rolled her eyes, not sure whether or not he was actually kidding with how sarcastic he could be sometimes. "But you are right about commitment. You know, as much as I can be as either me or _him_ with all the constant transformations, but always completely for you." He said, drawing up behind her again as she stood in front of her locker to pull her to him again, Frankie giggling in delight at having her boyfriend back with her. But she was prevented from saying anything further when she felt Jackson's body abruptly pulling away from her. Turning, she saw Midas holding Jackson up in the air with both of his arms.

"Midas! No! Put him down!" Frankie said, having nearly forgotten about the golem's presence as he stood off to the side as she had told him he could do. Jackson dangled from the golem's grip, drawing the attention of the others in the hallway. He grunted as he struggled in the golem's hold, Frankie placing her hands on Midas' arms to get him to drop him. "Midas, that's Jackson! He's my boyfriend!" she shouted, tugging on his sleeves. Midas hesitated a moment longer before placing Jackson back on the ground, Jackson taking a step back and running a hand across his chest as he readjusted his shirt that Midas had ruffled.

"_Who_…" Jackson began, confusion and irritation in his voice, "…is that?" He asked, finishing straightening out his outfit by fixing his bowtie. He bent over to pick up his books that he had dropped, before turning to look at Frankie with an expression that demanded an explanation over why his girlfriend had some hulking guy pushing him away from her. "And _what_ is his problem?"

"Jackson this is Midas, Midas this is Jackson." Frankie said, standing between the two boys and holding up her hands to keep them from getting too close, doing her best to not get to see Jackson demonstrate the story he had just told her about with his father. "He's a golem that I accidentally summoned a couple of days ago when I was with the girls in the attic. He's still figuring out what he should and shouldn't do." She attempted to explain in a placating tone to Jackson who still seemed to want more answers. But the pleading smile Frankie sent him had him sighing harshly and shaking his head, his stance relaxing a little from the fighting stance he'd naturally assumed that she expected to see more from Holt than him.

"But it _won't_ happen again." Frankie said, turning to address the last part to Midas, expecting him to give his short, polite nod again, but he only took his eyes off of Jackson for a moment to look at Frankie briefly before backing away to give her some space.

"Jackson. He's just…still learning how things work. That's all." Frankie said, laughing nervously as she explained to Jackson. "He's working on being more his own person but those ingrained tendencies to be protective seem to be really hard to get behind him." she said. Jackson still looked cautiously at Midas. He was aware of how some monsters had obsessive qualities, gargoyles also known to be a little overbearing when they felt the need to guard or protect someone or something. But Jackson could tell that Frankie was too close to Midas to see how his protectiveness wasn't just him acting out of duty or overwhelming sense of obligation.

"Frankie, I don't think that's all this is." Jackson said, not taking his eyes off of the golem as he approached Frankie and pulled her aside gently. "Trust me when I say that I can tell he's got another side to him that you're just not seeing." He said, Frankie sighing in irritation.

"Jackson. It's not like you to get so jealous." She said, before fondly looking at her boyfriend. It had taken a while for them to finally get back together again and she knew that there would still be some doubt that would show through from time to time. Still, she could see why Cleo might enjoy the feeling having Deuce get jealous of her spending too much time with another guy, however ridiculous that situation would seem in hindsight. Jackson gave his own huff of frustration before placing his attention solely on his girlfriend.

"I'm not jealous. I'm worried about you." He said, waiting for Frankie to look at him and away from Midas, who stood far enough away that he thought they wouldn't need to worry about him eavesdropping. "From what little I know about golems, they weren't usually given such fancy clothes. They were supposed to be dressed as servants like they were made to be. So why is it then that _Midas_ even has a cape?" he asked, causing Frankie to actually take a moment to think over what Jackson had said.

"Well, maybe his last master didn't want to have him be seen in less than stellar clothes. He could have been forced to wear that for all I know." Frankie said, defending the golem she was rapidly becoming fond of as a friend. "I haven't actually asked."

"Well keep in mind that he was put up in that attic for a reason." Jackson said, echoing Cleo's warning. "He may have decided to actually take that cape for himself for whatever reason he found justifiable in protecting his master." He said, picking up the dropped box of chocolates to hand to Frankie.

"You're not even giving him a chance Jackson." Frankie whined, popping one of the chocolates into her mouth. "Or do you think he's not worth the effort because he's only a few days old here?" she said, getting frustrated with Jackson's continual hard look as he glared over at Midas. Jackson rolled his eyes at Frankie's jump in thought. "Frankie. This isn't just like you."

"Yes it is." Frankie said. "He's just like I was, trying to find out who he is in a short amount of time. He's doing really well. Just be patient, please? I gave you time when you were finding out who you were when you discovered Holt. Do this for me?" she asked, trying to move them past this argument. She had really missed him and didn't want to greet him with an immediate argument.

"Fine. I'll give it a chance." He said, Frankie opening her mouth to correct him that Midas was a _him_ and not an _it_, but decided that this detail wasn't worth starting the argument again. "But one thing that seems out of line – one thing – and I'm not going to hesitate to try and get you away from him. He might do something drastic to you if he turned on his last master." Jackson said, shooting Frankie a determined look that she found to be handsome. He normally had a far more gentle, thoughtful appearance on his face that matched his caring nature. But she gave him a short nod. "Nothing will happen Jackson. He's been with me for a couple of days and nothing too bizarre has happened…mostly. He's been nothing but careful with me." She said.

Jackson didn't seem too thrilled about that idea, but Frankie seemed to be telling the truth. He gave her a smile, giving a kiss to her cheek as they said their goodbyes to head to their respective classes. Frankie watched him turn the corner, biting her lip as she thought about what troubles might occur if Midas couldn't get along with the idea that Jackson being close to her was something he'd have to accept.

* * *

As the day went on, Midas seemed to do as Frankie asked, wandering off more on his own as he seemed to inspect every inch of the school and the grounds. He even trailed after a few of Frankie's friends, making them a little uneasy under his watch, as though he was considering them possible threats to Frankie.

Jackson had also had another couple of verbal scuffles with the golem when he went to take his seat next to Frankie only to find that Midas had either taken that seat or was adamant in sitting on the floor beside her. The teachers had already come to learn that this particular boy was not actually a new student as they had assumed the day before, forcing Frankie to have the golem either stand in the back of the class or in the hall to wait for her. He was immensely relieved when the latter happened, as it seemed he and Frankie were able to return their usual selves with each other for a little while, even if it was limited by the fact that they were still in school. But each time, Midas had seemed to go out of his way to block Jackson's path in the hallway to keep him either walking behind or in front of her when all he wanted to do was be beside her to talk with her.

By the third time that happened, his mood had definitely taken a turn for the worse, although he kept to his word to not do anything unless he could justify the golem's actions as going too far. He was rifling through his locker and doing his best to ignore the voice in the back of his mind that seemed to build off his agitated state. It was only when he was so worked up that he could hear him sometimes and he could only imagine how Holt would react. As much as he knew that for the sake of his own sanity that he should let Holt spend some time with Frankie, he thought it best to postpone a little longer their reunion. Frankie had asked about Holt's activities while away and had wondered aloud when she could get to see him too, but Jackson had been a little short in his responses on that topic with her. As he took a minute to try and calm himself, he did his best to not look in the tiny mirror he kept in his locker in order to keep those whispers to a minimum. "Let me out. We can handle this as me better than what you're doin'. She won't even look at you today. You know she'd look at me!" Holt's voice said, Jackson ripping the mirror off the metal door and flinging it further into his locker, not caring if he smashed another mirror.

"Hey man. Nice to see you back already!" Clawd said as he and Deuce walked over to him, Jackson running a hand through his hair to try and look more like his normal self. "Heath said you were supposed to come back tomorrow though. Couldn't stay away?" he asked sarcastically, but Jackson wasn't in the mood for playful banter.

"Yeah. Got back a little early." Jackson said, holding onto his locker door as he turned to look at his friends. "Saw what kept Frankie too busy to call me too." he mumbled grumpily. Deuce nodded his head, giving a brief laugh.

"Yeah, dude. That's been something of an issue we we're kinda hoping would've been resolved before you got back." Deuce said. "It's pretty obvious it's got you on edge…" he said, a smirk on his face.

"On edge? Who's on edge? Frankie's fine. I'm fine." Jackson said, gripping his locker door tightly as he stammered out his denial of his morning's frustration in an attempt to appear more laid back. But Deuce and Clawd didn't seem to believe their friend.

"Well your locker isn't." Clawd said. "You're uh…melting it…" he said to Jackson, causing his friend to look over his door to see he'd warped the metal a little from where he'd gripped it too tightly, his elemental heritage having done the rest.

"Oh man…" Jackson exclaimed, trying to briefly mold it back into place with a few hits before giving up and slamming it shut. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to want to stay shut and he had to lean on it to get it to close, his friends laughing at his plight.

"Oh man…that's something I'd expect from Heath." Clawd said through laughs, Deuce nodding in agreement. Jackson sighed but refrained from saying anything to further embarrass himself. "Speaking of him, where is he? I haven't really seen him at all today…" Jackson said, grabbing the books he'd dropped in his haste to stop inadvertently destroying his locker.

"No clue. But you should've seen how defensive of you he got the other day when we were talking to that golem at the maul." Deuce said, Gil joining them as they walked down the hallway.

"Talking about Heath?" Gil asked, the others nodding in response. "Yeah, he'd decided to take it upon himself to spy on the guy, but stealth is not one of his higher skills." He said, smiling as he thought back on a few of Heath's particularly noteworthy fiascos. But they all thought it was probably for the best, considering his penchant for pulling off pranks nonetheless, the last involving a lot of cinnamon and a less than amused werewolf who was still sneezing the spice during their game later in the day. Clawd had made his irritation known though by being a little rougher on the court in pushing his teammate to keep up, but otherwise they had come to expect some ridiculous stuff.

"Let's hope he's okay then." Jackson said, concern lacing his voice. It was bad enough that he was worried about Frankie being close to the golem, but the likelihood of his cousin getting himself into trouble if Midas thought he deserved it seemed high. The four of them walked into the classroom and took their usual seats by each other, Jackson deciding to let Frankie have some time with the girls without her ever-present golem. He had hoped that Heath would be in class, since he shared the period with them and he hadn't gotten around to saying much more than a few words in passing in the hallway between classes. He'd been pleasantly surprised when his cousin had seemed genuinely ecstatic to have his cousin back early and now he knew the reason. He thought back on his cousin's jittery state and was mentally berating himself for not having the sense to notice that he should have asked his cousin what had made him so upset. Then again, he'd been a little preoccupied at the time with his own musings.

"Hey dude, where's your sister? Or Draculaura?" Deuce asked, looking over to see Frankie sitting beside Lagoona and Abbey but the others noticeably absent. "Cleo's said she's gonna be late since she's supposed to be finishing up that test from third period. It's a good thing that teacher thinks if he gives her more chances she'll do more than file her nails in class. He's even giving her a pass to miss half of this period." He grumbled, not sure how Cleo managed to do that sort of thing. But he wasn't going to say anything to the teacher since it might actually help his girlfriend pass the class.

"Hey Frankie, do you know where Draculaura is?" Clawd asked his friend, but Frankie made an annoyed face. "No." She answered shortly, her tone indicating that something probably had sparked some difficulties between the two.

"Everything ok Frankie?" Jackson asked in a softer tone, attempting to comfort his girlfriend as his own peace offering for having been short with her earlier too. Frankie sighed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"She and I got into an argument over something stupid." She said. "She thinks I'm…you know what…it's nothing. It's over and I don't want to talk about it." She finished, Lagoona rolling her eyes at Frankie's behavior.

"You know whatever she wanted to say to you was with your best interests in mind, Frankie." The sea monster said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. Frankie's shoulders visibly lost their tension as she slumped into her friend's waiting arms and gratefully accepting the hug.

"I know, I really do. But it just seems like none of you trust me with what I'm trying to do for Midas." She said. "I can't help but see a little bit of what I was like in him and I just want to help him like you guys did for me."

"So is Clawdeen consoling Draculaura right now then?" Gil asked, trying to piece together where their scattered friends had gone. This was one of the few classes that they all had together when the school's schedule rotated a certain way, Ghoulia also conspicuously absent. But Frankie gave a shrug, the other two girls not knowing either.

"Clawdeen was backing up Draculaura's opinion, but she didn't follow Draculaura when she stormed off. She stayed to threaten me with going to the headmistress to get Midas dealt with by her since neither of them thinks I can handle it." She said, leaning onto her desk as the teacher began class. Abbey leaned over to whisper something about maybe they'd be fine and that Heath or Ghoulia had probably found them since neither was in class either.

The lesson started out like usual until Midas demanded entry in his flowery medieval language to the point that Frankie felt compelled to let him inside the room. Jackson had to bite his cheek to keep from growling like Clawd at having the golem back among them. He'd begun to relax as it seemed the golem had taken to heart Frankie's suggestion to just explore on his own and had been gone for at least three quarters of an hour. And now it seemed that the roles were being reversed as Frankie catered more to Midas' demands to be near her at all times. He rolled his eyes as he thought about how even if Frankie was able to find a way to break his ties of servitude like Gigi's ties to her lamp had been done, they might have to deal with some separation anxieties for a while. Clawd and Gil seemed to be on edge too, although Manny took the opportunity to tease Jackson over being alright with his girlfriend having another guy on the side. It was enough for Jackson to snap the arm of his chair and startle the snakes on Deuce's head at the loud crack it made, his own enhances strength making its presence.

"Mr. Jekyll…" the teacher said in a warning tone, giving him a stern look. Jackson apologized, not normally in the spotlight for this sort of thing and blushing a little. Frankie sent him a sympathetic look before they all attempted to return to class.

"Sorry Deuce. Didn't mean to startle you. I didn't send any splinters your way did I?" Jackson asked as he looked at how the wooden arm of the chair dangled from its side. He'd been lucky that he hadn't had a repeat of earlier and set the wood on fire. But Deuce shook his head no, relieving Jackson.

"No dude, it's cool. Not normally like you though. Holt making an appearance?" Deuce asked, eyeing his friend cautiously. Music was the trigger now, but he'd come to learn only recently that Jackson had gone through more than one trigger for his alter ego, wondering if his friend might be on the verge of another. "Not that I don't understand, but normally you do the whole creepy 'quiet rage' thing. I think I prefer this though – at least I know when you're mad…" Deuce said, earning a smile from Jackson.

"It just seems particularly bad today. I feel awful about not being able to fully restrain myself like usual but I can just tell there's something else we're missing about that golem." Jackson said, sounding more like himself and easing Deuce's worries. "And no…as far as I can tell, music still does the trick." Jackson smirked, making Deuce realize he might not have been as subtle as he thought as he'd looked over his friend. He thought he'd have to work on that, considering Cleo seemed to always know what he was thinking too, although it might just have been because he was close to both and they'd been able to pick up on his little tells. He wasn't sure how he'd react if he'd become as bad as Heath though, since everybody could tell the majority of the time when he was up to something.

"Sorry…I didn't mean to…" Deuce said, but Jackson waved him off. "Relax. I get it. There are times I wonder whether or not you're going to grow a tail or something…" Jackson teased his friend, the two of them snickering. Clawd also seemed to find it amusing, his ears twitching that signaled he'd overheard their conversation.

"Alright then. I've got a short clip to help supplement the lesson." The teacher began, turning on the projector and pulling up a webpage on the computer. "I'll admit I haven't watched it all yet so if there's anything inappropriate…you pretend you didn't hear it and I won't say anything…" the teacher said, some students laughing at her easy-going nature. "I doubt there'll be anything but I'll do my best to catch it." She said, pressing play and sitting back to watch as the clip played from some movie that she was using to give context to their topic. It seemed fine, but they were taken a little off guard when the background music rapidly switched to a more fast- paced, louder piece to highlight a chase scene. The teacher quickly turned it down for her students, but the damage had already been done as Jackson had flung out of his seat grabbing his head to cover his ears and block the noise but it wasn't enough. Frankie cringed as the flash of flame signaled her boyfriend's other half joining them, automatically pulling on his headphones to keep himself out.

"Heeeey, yeah!" Holt said, shaking himself out as though he'd just woken up. He looked around and spotted the clip still playing. "Oh yeah, I know that. They all die in the end but it was all a dream anyway." He said, causing a few students to groan as he ruined the twist for them. But Holt didn't seem to care that he'd inconvenienced anyone, noticing Frankie and giving her a big smile as he jumped over and slid across the desk to get to her.

"Miss Fine! How you been? It's been too long a wait for me to see you again. No fun at all at that place." Holt said, nearly knocking Abbey out of her seat as he landed next to his girlfriend. Frankie couldn't help but laugh at how excited Holt always was, his hair flaming a little more than normal and causing Abbey to sputter as the heat made her uncomfortable, shoving him a little to get him to ease up.

"Mr. Hyde keep to your seat please." Their teacher said, exhaustion in her voice at realizing that maintaining order in class had gotten harder with the presence of a Hyde. As expected, Holt didn't seem to pay any heed to the teacher, that usually requiring a few more tries and a more authoritative tone that only Headmistress Bloodgood seemed able to manage.

Frankie let herself have another second to hug her boyfriend back before gently pushing him away. "Holt, come on. We can talk later. Right now, it's class." She said through a smile. Holt sighed and looked like he was going to head back to his seat before lifting Frankie up in one more surprise hug. Frankie yelled in surprise, leaning back and causing Holt's flames to catch onto her sleeve. He quickly put her down and put the flame out but Midas had decided to intervene. The others had been surprised that he'd waited, but Frankie must have had a long talk with him and he'd been essentially commanded not to pull Jackson –or Holt when he'd transformed – away from Frankie.

"Yo! Get outta my space!" Holt yelled as Midas grabbed Frankie and pulled her behind him. The Hyde looked about ready to toss him to the ground. "I don't know who you are but I ain't puttin' up with this!" he said, making to go around him to get to Frankie, who was rapidly trying to explain the situation to her boyfriend. "You don't seem to understand that's my girlfriend." He growled. "And no one gets in my way." he said, his tone dropping and making him sound frighteningly dangerous.

"You are a danger to her and therefore cannot be allowed near her. You must keep your distance for her safety and cease your courtship." He said, the others noting how much more possessive he'd sounded, as though he had someone in particular in mind for Frankie.

"'Cease our courtship'? What are you…okay, last chance. Or are you _challenging_ me?" Holt said, his hair rivaling Heath's despite only being partly elemental.

"Uh oh." Gil said, the others in the room collectively backing away or slinking down to hide more behind their desks. The teacher sensed how quickly things were taking a turn for the worse, coming to stand as close as she dared to get between the two boys, directing her attention to Holt as she talked to him while Frankie attempted to dissuade Midas' actions.

"I accept your challenge." Midas said, the teacher and Frankie looking curious for a moment, before rapidly springing back as the golem took a swing at Holt, the other boy catching onto the golem's arm and getting in a kick of his own. Gil pulled Lagoona out of the way of one of Holt's fireballs as the two wrestled with each other in the middle of the room. Midas landed a punch to Holt's side, causing him to double over and leave himself open to a knee to the side of his head. Holt was flung backwards, nose bloodied but looking beyond angry as he dodged another blow, clenching his fists together to add more power to the punches he directed repeatedly onto the back of the golem as Midas stumbled forward from his missed target. Midas arched his back with each hit before twisting to barrel into Holt. Holt pulled off the golem's helmet as he gripped him in a headlock before Midas shoved him off, Holt then using it as a club to smash against the golem's head.

"You okay?" Gil asked Lagoona, who was speechless as she watched how ferociously Holt and Midas went at it. Abbey had forced Frankie to back away, her voice drowned out by the other students' voices as they watched the fight. The two of them backed as close to the wall as they could, other students who weren't Holt's friends or enthralled in the fight taking the chance to rush out of the room as the teacher ushered them out. She swallowed thickly before regaining her senses and nodding to her concerned boyfriend. "Yeah…Rochelle said how a golem's strength was legendary, but it looks like so is a Hyde's. They're gonna kill each other!" she said, screaming as Holt tossed a burning table over at Midas, who used his cape as a shield, the table breaking as it hit him.

Holt continued to rush at him as the golem was in a more defensive stance still, knocking him into the wall. He pinned the golem for only a moment, as Midas used his arms to press down and knock Holt's grip off him, sending another kick to Holt who landed on the ground. Midas lunged and picked him up over his head, seeming to try and bend Holt in half in the air, Holt letting out a yell of pain that morphed into one of determination as he concentrated his fire into Midas face and arms. The golem let out his own shout as cracking was heard, the others fearing that it was Holt's bones they were hearing until Midas dropped Holt onto the ground and fell to his knees with his face in his hands. Holt gasped as he took a moment to catch his breath, rolling over onto his side and grabbing at the golem's cape. Midas was about to respond until Frankie's piercing voice cut through to them, screaming at them to stop. She twisted out of the hold Abbey had on her to race over to where the boys lay among the wreckage that had been the classroom.

"Holt, stop it!" she screamed at him with such betrayal in her voice that the said boy looked up from where he lay on his side on the floor. "Look what you did! How could you?" Frankie asked, kneeling in front of Midas and encouraging him in a comforting voice to let her see his face. Holt coughed a couple of times before giving an incredulous laugh. "How could _I_? _I'm_ not the one who started this Frankie…" he said, groaning as he pulled himself to his knees and taking a few deep breaths.

"Yes you did." Frankie snapped at him. "He's just like a little kid Holt and look what you did to him." she said. Holt looked at her like she was crazy, Abbey trying to get her to take a minute to understand what had really happened. Frankie had definitely seen the same things everybody else had, but it seemed that she'd still somehow seen things differently.

"Frankie…Midas throw first punch." Abbey said in defense of her friend's boyfriend. But Frankie didn't seem to want to listen to reason. "Only because you antagonized him Holt. If you could just get over yourself for once and let me finish explaining things to you…" she trailed off, shaking her head at Holt. But Holt seemed genuinely speechless as Frankie berated him, the only one it seemed that couldn't tell he'd taken quite a beating too.

"Frankie…Midas is fine. Look, he healing already." Abbey said. "What about Holt?" she encouraged her friend to pay attention to Holt, who was rapidly looking more emotionally crushed than the physical marks on him. Frankie huffed but glanced over to Holt to really look at him, taking in the battered state of her boyfriend. She gasped, eyes widening and tearing a little as she appeared to debate going over to him to help him up. But Holt, whose headphones somehow stayed on the entire fight when lesser things had knocked them off before, stood up on his own, limping a couple of times as he got his balance.

"You know what…" he said, wiping the blood off his lip, "I'll go. I've had my fun for the day. You stay with your new best friend. I just ain't important enough it seems… I'll see you later…maybe…" Holt said, brushing aside Clawd's offer to help him out of the room before the headmistress came along. Frankie stood up, calling after him to wait. He turned for a second to look back at his girlfriend he had literally just fought for, hope in his eyes that she might follow him. Frankie guiltily looked to him and took a step forward to get to him, but was halted by Midas' hand reaching out to hold onto her leg. She paused and looked back down to Midas.

"Yeah…" Holt said, limping out as quickly as he could, leaving Frankie feeling terrible over not knowing what to do and falling into the position of hurting everyone like Draculaura had warned her.

* * *

Cleo had found herself hearing the news second-hand that there had been a big fight in the class she was supposed to have been in while she was slowly making her way over there to stall. Hearing that from a passing student, she sprinted the rest of the way to find Deuce and Clawd standing with Gil in the hallway.

"Deuce, what happened?" the mummy asked breathlessly, looking over her boyfriend quickly to make sure he hadn't been drawn into the fight before wrapping her arms around him. The gorgon returned the embrace quickly before pulling his girlfriend away.

"Midas decided to go at with Holt. Told him to 'cease their courtship' before nearly snapping him in half." Deuce said, Cleo gasping at the news and looking around to see if she could spot where the rest of her friends had gone.

"Holt limped off after Frankie yelled at him for the fight. Don't know how, but he was movin' fast for a hurt guy." Clawd said. "We were just talking about whether or not to go after him. We think he probably wanted to be alone but he might need some help." Cleo nodded along in understanding, realizing her worries weren't totally unfounded. She had encouraged Frankie to let him serve her like she was accustomed to, but it would seem like the golem really was getting out of control.

"Did the others go with Frankie and Midas then?" Cleo asked, not seeing anything other than the smoking remains of a few of the wooden tables. Midas had likely taken Frankie someplace he deemed safe enough and away from the others, but she assumed that the other girls had followed to help Frankie calm down.

"No. Lagoona and Abbey are but Draculaura, Clawdeen and Ghoulia weren't in class." Gil answered, Cleo looking curiously at the boys as she tried to understand. "Heath wasn't either. We didn't want to say anything to Frankie with her bodyguard around, but it's possible that golem might have done something to them." He said, worry spreading over his face.

"Why would you think that?" Cleo asked as they made their way over to the creepateria to hopefully meet up with their friends. As far as she knew, the golem hadn't made any actual threatening advances to the girls other than the intense looks as he watched their movements with Frankie or when he'd followed them on his own.

"Frankie was saying something about Draculaura and her getting into some fight. Clawdeen backed her up and planned on going to the headmistress without Frankie to deal with managing Midas." Clawd said. "If Midas thought that was threatening to Frankie…." He said, trailing off as he left it up to the others to figure out that something might have happened.

"Okay, since there not in the creepateria, let's see if we can figure out where Draculaura might have stormed off to." Cleo said, doing her best to maintain her typical stance and take charge. "She probably decided to hide out in the bell tower…"she began, but Howleen came running up to her brother to interrupt their planning.

"Clawd! You gotta come quick!" she said in obvious distress. "It's Clawdeen. Ghoulia's with her now, but she's really sick. Headmistress Bloodgood thinks somebody slipped her some wolf's bane somehow." Howleen grabbed her brother's hand as he stood there in shock at hearing what had happened to his sister. The others also were shocked, following where Howleen was dragging her brother.

"How bad is she?" Clawd asked once he found his voice. Howleen gave a keening whine as she looked to her brother for guidance. "Ghoulia was doing her best but her skin was all irritated…it wasn't good, and I think she was coughing up some blood the last time she vomited" She said, she and Clawd breaking from the rest of the group to run the rest of the way with all their werewolf speed.

"Oh my Ra…" Cleo breathed out, stopping Deuce from running up to where Clawdeen was resting against Ghoulia by the front door, no doubt awaiting an ambulance to take her to the hospital to be treated. "If the golem attacked Clawdeen on his own, he might have done something to Draculaura…or Heath! You saw what he did to Holt…" she said, fear on her face.

Deuce looked just as unsettled, walking over to tell Clawd that they were going to check the bell tower just in case Draculaura had been attacked. His friend nodded, terror on his face as he stood helplessly by his sister's side. Gil looked torn between wanting to stay and help or go with Deuce and Cleo. But before he could say anything, Lagoona and Abbey came running down the hall.

"Oh, Clawdeen!" Lagoona said as she stood beside her boyfriend. "We just heard what happened. You'll be okay." She said, wringing her hands in her uncertainty of how to help her friend. "How did this happen?" she asked. Ghoulia moaned a response that she had seen Midas following Clawdeen after she watched her and Frankie apparently arguing. She said she had tried to keep up, but by the time she'd gotten to Clawdeen, the wolf's bane had somehow already been ingested by her friend. Clawdeen moaned and looked up, "I didn't eat that stuff – I know better. He'd had some powdery stuff that got in my nose like that cinnamon did for Clawd." She explained. "He kept tossing it at me, I probably swallowed a bunch of it too. I may as well have had a whole field's worth…." She said, holding her abdomen as she doubled over again, Ghoulia allowing her to lean more on her.

"Let us go look for others then." Abbey said, a determined and angry tone in her voice. "We will get golem for you Clawdeen." She said, Clawdeen not taking part in the conversation anymore. Flashing lights and sirens signaled that the ambulance had arrived, Headmistress Bloodgood rushing back inside to usher Clawdeen and her siblings into the ambulance, Ghoulia allowed to join her in following the truck to the hospital to meet up with their friends' parents.

"Alright then, let's head to the roof. Draculaura usually takes off out there when she's stressed." Cleo repeated. "Wait, where's Frankie and her golem right now?" she asked in concern.

"Frankie said she was going to talk privately with Midas in the garden, since there's not supposed to be anyone in there right now." Lagoona answered. "Midas pretty much ordered us to leave them alone, saying something about how he needed 'to provide Frankie with a relaxed environment to ease her emotional discomfort and ensure her physical wellbeing'". She quoted, rolling her eyes. "We were going to wait to meet up with her when Howleen sprinted past us and we figured something was up."

The others nodded, not much more said as they raced up the steps to the roof. The vampire would have had to walk across the roof to get access to the door to the bell tower, and they hoped that nothing had happened to detour her. Reaching the final level of stairs, Cleo gasped and caught their attention. "Look!" she said, walking over and picking up something the others had overlooked. "It's Draculaura's parasol. If she's out there without it…" she said, eyes wide as they all realized that it was a sunny day with practically no clouds out. Cleo raced past her boyfriend the final few steps to see that a large wooden beam had been placed in front of the door, preventing it from being opened.

"Oh man…" Gil breathed out, all of them realizing that Midas had definitely used the spare time Frankie had encouraged him to take to follow after Draculaura once he'd finished with Clawdeen. He and Deuce began to try and lift the beam, but the two of them were hardly making any progress. "If you turn it to stone, can we smash enough of it to get the door open?" Gil asked his friend.

"I can try dude, but whatever we smash will just be replaced by the rest of the beam. The thing is big – that could take a while and a lot of smashing." Deuce said, looking over how he might do as Gil suggested, but in a way that wouldn't cause any more potential problems. But Abbey seemed to have had enough, shoving to the front of the group and walking over to the wall beside the door. "Abbey, what are you…" Lagoona began, but her friend answered her question through her actions as she gave out a yell and froze a good portion of the wall before using the ice's weight to aid her in knocking it down. The yeti pushed her way through and succeeded in collapsing the wall, stumbling through out onto the roof with the others quickly following.

"Draculaura! Heath!" Abbey shouted, spotting Heath kneeling on the roof, his jacket wrapped around another person to cover as much skin as possible and using the rest of his body as a shield. Heath looked up at his girlfriend's voice, a relieved smile on his face.

"Man, are we glad to see you guys." He said, his voice sounding scratchy. Abbey raced over to his side, Cleo right beside her opening up Draculaura's parasol to provide adequate shade to the vampire. The yeti gingerly touched her boyfriend noting the bruise that was forming on the side of his eye and the strange chalky looking stuff that was covering his hair, face, and arms.

"What is all over you?" she asked, helping Heath stand after crouching in that position to keep Dracularua safe for what had been at least an hour. Heath grimaced as he stiffly stood up, leaning onto Abbey to help keep himself up. "That stupid golem doused me with the fire hydrant chemicals – broke the container with his bare hands and dumped it on me. You know…after he hit me in the head with it for following him and Draculaura." He said, scratching at his hair.

"Th-thank you though…" Draculaura stammered, looking a little red compared to her usual skin tone. "I'd be a…a…if you hadn't been here…." She stammered out, eyes watering up as everything seemed to catch up to her. Heath gave her a tight smile, the others guiding their friends back through the new door Abbey had created to get to safety.

"Are you two okay?" Gil said as he watched the two of them take relief indoors. "Why didn't you get inside the bell tower?" he asked.

"Gee, we hadn't thought of that." Heath snapped, the others waiting for his hair to start flaming but the chemicals in his hair seemed to still be working even as they'd dried and hardened on him. "We couldn't do that 'cuz he'd mutilated that door too and I couldn't get it open without leaving Draculaura exposed." He said, having had enough of the stuff in his hair and scratching at it with his hands to cause what looked like a shower of dandruff to fall off his head. "Now do guys believe me that somethin's not right?" He asked, the others giving him apologetic smiles. They clearly had known something was up, but hadn't been as worried or done anything about like Heath had done.

"You've no idea how right you were." Lagoona said as they continued down the stairs to get to the nurse's office so Draculaura could get some relief before taking off for her house or the hospital to recover as well. "Midas poisoned Clawdeen with wolf's bane – she left with Clawd and Howleen, with Ghoulia and Headmistress Bloodgood not far behind." She said, Draculaura gasping.

"Yeah…I saw him do something but Ghoulia had already gotten to her before me and I thought I should follow after him in case he attacked anybody else." Heath said, Draculaura mumbling another thanks to him.

"But dude, he also did exactly what you thought too – he took on Holt in an epic fight during class." Deuce said, earning a panicked look from Heath as his eyes widened and a tiny flame erupted from his hair, the chemicals still wreaking havoc on his abilities.

"What?!" Heath exclaimed. "Holy smokes! How's Holt?" Heath asked, refusing to enter the nurse's office with Draculaura and Cleo, despite Abbey's insistence. Deuce looked to Gil who gave Heath a sympathetic look as he gave a small shrug. "Not good dude – he wasn't too hurt but I think Frankie blaming him for the fight did the most damage." Deuce answered, Heath huffing in disbelief at how quickly things seemed to be falling apart all at once. He sat down on the floor in the hall, Abbey sliding to the floor beside him. "Oh, man…okay, okay…I got this." He said, seeming to pull himself together. "I just need to find him and then we can go from there." he said, Abbey giving him a nod to let him know he didn't have to do that alone.

"Alright, where might he go to be alone?" Abbey asked her boyfriend, Heath leaning his head back on the wall to think about this side of his cousin. "He doesn't usually want to be alone. He might have gone into the catacombs to take his mood out on some of the stuff he's got stashed down there when he plays with Operetta or Johnny…but if he's in a really bad mood…I'm not sure." Heath said, sounding defeated.

"Then we split up and be quick." Abbey said, seeing her boyfriend in need of encouragement. "But first we get this stuff off you or you won't be able to help Holt" she said, pulling him up and into the nurse's office to get him to use the bathroom in there and wash the chemicals off of himself.

Deuce and Gil remained standing in the hallway as they waited for their friends to be taken care of, anxious to do something as well. "Maybe we should split up. Lagoona and I can check out his area he usually hangs out in down in the catacombs and you can go with Heath and Abbey outside." Gil said, his girlfriend nodding along with him. "Holt likes to bolt too if he's feeling cornered. I think." Gil said, shrugging, but Deuce gave a nod. "No that actually makes a lot of sense. Cleo will probably head down to meet you guys in the catacombs if she leaves Draculaura at all." He said, motioning to Heath and Abbey to follow him as they exited the nurse's office.

The group split up, Deuce, Heath and Abbey wandering out into the courtyard. "Any ideas where he might have taken off to get away for a while?" Deuce asked Heath, the elemental looking around as though debating the possibilities.

"Holt usually remembers to get back to class at some point – even if it's not exactly at the start of class. That annoys Jackson to no end, but he doesn't stray too far so he can hear the bell still if it goes off." Heath said as he thought things through aloud. "If he was hurt and wanted no one to find him, he might have headed out into the woods. He'd be off school property but close enough to hear the bell still over his headphones…I think. If we find a few scorched trees then we know we're on the right path."

The three of them seemed to agree with Heath's assessment of his cousin, trusting that he would know him best. They were about to head out into the woods surrounding one side of the school when Frankie came sprinting over to them. "Guys…wait…" she said, stopping in front of them. "I got Midas to agree to just wander for a while. I had to explain that fighting on school property is not a good thing. We're just lucky I told him not to use his weapon in the school too." she said, slightly out of breath from running to them from the garden area. "But I need to talk to Holt." She said, "I really need to apologize for the way I treated him…" she began to explain.

"Yeah, well, we'd like to talk to him too but we can't find him." Heath said. "Your golem attacked Clawdeen and Draculaura, and gave me this lovely bruise too." he said, pointing out his injury to Frankie. The green-skinned girl gasped at the news and winced toward Heath in sympathy. "Sorry Heath…I don't understand what's making him go so overboard. I can't seem to control him anymore" She said, following them as they headed toward the woods. She looked just as worried and overwhelmed at the news as the others had, sparks coming from her bolts. Deuce gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder, Frankie wiping her tearing eyes as she tried to compose herself in order to help her friends.

* * *

Holt paced around the area of the woods he'd stopped in to vent, sending fireballs occasionally at one of the trees. His physical nature made it so that his injuries were healing quicker than if he'd let Jackson immediately handle things, but keeping himself out and not being able to do anything was taking its toll. He fingered the strange silvery metal that he'd broken off of the golem's helmet in the fight, pocketing it as he thought about how much it had hurt when Frankie had taken the golem's side in her continued insistence that he was just like she had been when she'd first gotten to Monster High. He growled and shot another larger ball of flame at a tree, burning through one of the thicker low-lying branches and taking satisfaction in seeing it become mutilated.

"You are dangerous to all your surroundings." A voice drifted over to him that Holt really was not in the mood to deal with, his jaw clenching as he turned around to face the golem. "I cannot allow Frankie to remain around someone like you. I will protect her, even if she does not think she needs the protection." Midas said, glaring at Holt as intensely as the Hyde stared back at him.

"I'm only keepin' my distance, because for some strange reason, Frankie's not given up on you." Holt said. "But since she ain't here, I've no problem tellin' you that I can tell that this whole 'knightly' thing you've got goin' on to impress her is nothin' but an act." Holt said. "I'm the expert at that and I know you've got other plans than just _protecting_ her….and it ain't gonna happen while I'm here."

Midas sent Holt a small smile, Holt feeling the danger in the air that came from the golem. But he wasn't one to ever run from a fight, a fact that he'd made well-known to the golem earlier. "That is what I'm here to rectify. We have not finished out duel for the fair maiden." He said. "I am pleased that you should have decided to venture here on your own. Frankie has rendered me unable to withdraw my weapon on school property for fear of this 'suspension' or to do damage to those she calls friends." He said, unsheathing his sword and causing Holt to flare up his hands in response. "She must be protected from herself as she continues to associate with those who would wish to do her harm either to her person or to her contentedness. I will be able to save and serve her more adequately when there are no more threats to her, even the one she poses to herself." Midas said, as he and Holt began to circle one another.

"You ain't gonna touch her…" Holt growled. "I'll bake that clay of yours before you get a chance to try anything." He said, tossing fireballs to the golem's face that Midas was able to easily shield before lunging at Holt with his sword. Holt was able to doge, coming closer to the edge of the muddy slope that ended in a large mud pond at the bottom. He caught himself before going over the edge, taking the opportunity to shove the golem as his sword got stuck in one of the tree trucks during the next swing, Holt just ducking in time to avoid imitating his headmistress. Midas stumbled back, taking another hit to his chest from one of Holt's fireballs that his armor seemed to absorb before any damage could be done.

"It would seem I should update my choice of weaponry, perhaps to one Frankie shared with me." Midas said, ducking from another of Holt's fireballs. The golem swung his sword and Holt watched as it seemed like his cape glowed briefly, the shimmer travelling down his arm to the metal sword that morphed into a handgun. His eyes widened as he realized how much more dangerous the golem seemed to be, wondering how he was going to be able to defend himself from bullets. "You fought well elemental, but I will not waver in my devotion to Frankie." He said, aiming at Holt and firing. Holt called up as much fire as he could summon to create a wall to explode as many of the bullets as he could before they got to close to him. He attempted to take cover behind the nearest tree trunk, leaping for it. But a burning sensation to his side caused him to jerk to the side and take a step back as a bullet grazed his side. He felt the edge of the ground give way as he fell backwards down the muddy slope, trying to grab at the earth for a handhold to stop his descent but failing, his headphones snagging on one of the larger rocks that stuck out from the mud. A quick flash had Jackson come to a painful awareness as he landed at the bottom. He grabbed onto one of the rocks to keep his head above the mud, his body screaming at him to stop moving from the abuses Holt had subjected them to. He lay still, hoping that whatever was attacking might either not see him, or believe they'd finished what they'd started. He didn't have to wait long before hearing who it was, not that surprised at his attacker's identity yet still feeling disappointed that Frankie hadn't done something by now to stop her golem's attacks.

"I am the only one capable of protecting Frankie. The only one strong enough to eliminate any and all threats." Midas said from atop the ravine, Jackson not daring to move. "I will take this garment of yours belonging to your other appearance as a token of my victory to Frankie." He said, grabbing Holt's jacket he had taken off while literally blowing off some steam earlier. Jackson waited a minute to be sure he heard the lumbering steps of the golem fade before making the effort to open his eyes to see what had happened to himself. He pulled himself up out of the mud as far as he could with the little grip he could get on the rocks and mud, twisting to see his side bloodied. _Well, there's another scar thanks to Holt_, he thought, _but I suppose it could have been so much worse_. He let himself collapse back onto the ground, sliding back a little more, resolved to only take a moment to take a break before attempting again to climb out.

* * *

Frankie and Abbey had split from Deuce and Gil to head down one of the possible paths that Holt could have taken. They hadn't gone very far before Frankie turned to Abbey with a worried look on her face. "Abbey, I've got a really bad feeling." She began, walking beside her friend and holding herself together. "I told Midas that he could wander around on his own. That must be how he got to Clawdeen and Draculaura and who knows what else he might've done those times he wasn't on top of me." She said to her friend, the yeti nodding in sympathy and her own concern.

"And with Headmistress Bloodgood away right now, I've no idea how to handle things. I don't want to hurt Midas if he really doesn't know any better, but we have to do something soon." Frankie said, stopping as Abbey pulled her into a hug to allow Frankie a moment to take a deep breath.

"You not alone in this. We all help and get through this." The yeti said with a small smile on her face. "Heath actually do a lot of the work for us this time and not something silly – he follow him all day and we can piece together what golem up to once finding Holt." Abbey encouraged, Frankie sniffling a little before taking a deep breath and forcing herself to stand straighter with a more confident look. They walked in silence a little longer until they both flinched at a loud noise, sounding like something was making its way through thick brush.

"Okay, we definitely heard something before too." Abbey said, Frankie standing closer to her friend as they looked around.

"Yeah, but the other sound had to have been a car backfiring. I mean, we've got to be close to one of the parking lots." Frankie said, biting her bottom lip in worry out of habit. The wind picked up and Frankie involuntarily shivered, rubbing her arms and closing her eyes briefly. She felt a warmth spread across her shoulders and back as someone placed something over her, causing her to open her eyes quickly to see what was going on. Seeing Holt's jacket, she sighed in relief and pulled it closer, turning with a smile on her face. "Thanks Ho-…Midas?" she said, seeing the golem and not her boyfriend standing there, Abbey looking warily at him.

"Where…where did you get this?" Frankie asked, voice wavering as she feared the answer. "You were cold. I used my token of victory in the duel with this… Holt…to accommodate you, my lady." Midas said, giving her a polite nod that he had learned she had liked and apparently hoping to go back to what it was like before.

"Victory in your duel?" Frankie asked, looking briefly over to Abbey before turning back to Midas. "Midas, how did you win?" she asked, doing her best to keep him from seeing her cry and attempting to do something else to keep her pleased. The golem looked to Frankie with an emotionless expression before answering, "A duel is only ever won when one has fallen. I am champion, having used the weapon you introduced me to Frankie." He said, Frankie gasping and leaning on Abbey for support as they both realized that what they'd heard earlier was a gunshot.

"Will be okay Frankie" Abbey said, rubbing her friend's arm comfortingly as she held her. "Will be okay." She repeated as she tried to comprehend what had happened based on what the golem had said.

"Indeed it shall." Midas said, nodding to Abbey. "You are a worthy friend. You may be allowed to remain by my mistress' side. But we must leave now." Midas said, walking over to Frankie. But Frankie pulled away from Abbey and took a step back from the golem, her own intense look she was sending over the golem. "No Midas. No…This can't keep happening. You've hurt my friends and now you've…" she said, her face scrunching up in her grief at what she imagined he'd done to Holt, holding his jacket closer to her. "You must not be able to understand but things can't be…nothing's going to be the same…you need to…" she began to ramble walking backwards away from the golem. In her agitated state though, only elevated from what she'd been like before, her stiches had come loose in multiple places. As she gestured wildly while she rambled to Midas, she tumbled to the ground as her left leg partly detached itself and her right hand fell from the loose sleeve of Holt's jacket. She couldn't keep the tears back any longer, the impact seeming to shake them loose and she began to weep openly. Abbey ran after where her hand had tumbled off to while Frankie tried to repair the stiches on her leg with her one remaining hand. She swatting at Midas to keep him from touching her, but the golem didn't flinch as she pushed him away, instead performing his servant duties. Abbey returned with her hand and Midas shoved her aside to continue to repair his mistress.

"I must keep you safe from yourself." Midas said, his tone firm as he repeated what he had said to her before, although Frankie didn't find the same warmth from that statement as before when she hadn't been staring back at him with tears in her eyes. "All dangers will be taken care of, even the ones you pose to yourself, Frankie." He said, causing Frankie's eyes to widen as she realized he was about to scoop her into his arms again. She tried to back away, but he was faster than her.

"Hey, she not want to go right now." Abbey said, earning a moment of hesitation from the golem. "We wait…uh…we wait for friends to come and make her happy again." Abbey said, trying to stall by appealing to the golem's inherent need to keep his mistress both safe and content. Although it seemed that he had switched into the mode where her contentedness was taking a second fiddle to her safety, having determined that there were threats to Frankie everywhere.

"Yes, Midas…let my friends come with me. You can take care of me but I'll need them too." Frankie said, begging with the golem. Midas appeared to thinking things over. He turned to face Frankie again. "I am capable of providing you with proper companionship for all your needs. I have demonstrated such with you at your domicile several times." He said. "We do not need to…"

"But you were created as a man. I'm a girl. I'll...I'll need feminine companionship to help me with problems that you will not be able to ever fully understand." Frankie interrupted with her improvised excuse, looking to Abbey to back her up.

"Yes…she need girls to help her with girl problems. I go with you but you want to provide her with as many things to make her happy, yes?" Abbey said, doing her best to run with Frankie's idea. "Wait for other friends before leaving." She said, trying to sound as though only looking out for the golem's mission. Midas took another moment before standing and allowing Frankie to stand on her own, Frankie internally debating how quickly he might catch up with her if she decided to just make a run for it. But she stayed where she was when Midas surprised them by blowing powder from his hand into Abbey's face, the yeti sputtering before her eyes rolling back and her legs giving out. Frankie gasped, watching as Midas caught her before she hit the ground and placing her on the ground beside Frankie, propped up against a tree.

"She made a reasonable argument. If you truly want female companionship from the others, then I request that you remain here with her whilst I acquire the others." Midas said, Frankie kneeling down to look over her friend, relieved when it seemed Abbey was just sleeping. "The remaining two have not given any indication of betrayal and shall therefore also be adequate companions. I will return shortly. I would not recommend you leave her should she awaken in confusion – I know you clearly care for her. I only wish to sustain your happiness" Midas instructed before leaving and rapidly heading back to the school.

Frankie waited until he was far enough away to let out a whine as she started to cry again. She sat beside Abbey, not wanting to leave her even though she had a feeling that things were only going to get worse for her and her friends if she stayed. She shook Abbey a few times to try and wake her, but the yeti hardly made any movement in response to her friend's prodding. Frankie wiped her cheeks of her tears with Holt's jacket, feeling them tear up again as she thought about what had happened to her boyfriend.

"Oh Holt, please be okay…I can't have what I did to you be the last thing I ever get to say to you…" she mumbled, burrowing into the jacket and smelling a mix of smoke and the lingering pine from the woods, although she thought that it might have been the crossover with Jackson's deodorant that Holt had always denied came over with the transformation. "Jackson you were right…you're always right…" she cried, leaning her head onto Abbey's shoulder to stay close to her friend. "How am I supposed to keep everybody safe now? What have I set loose?" she asked aloud, wishing the answer would just come echoing back from the trees. She quietly cried a few minutes more until she saw Midas returning with Cleo and Lagoona slung over each shoulder. She gasped as she wondered what had happened to Gil, Abbey having explained how they had split up. She watched as Midas gently placed the girls on the ground next to Abbey, Frankie overwhelmed with what to do next. "But how are we going to leave with the three of them. You can't carry three girls…can you?" Frankie asked timidly, worried that he would answer with a yes since he seemed to be incredibly strong. "I…I won't walk back to my house with you." She said, doing her best to sound authoritative.

"You needn't do so Frankie." Midas said, turning to face her. Frankie walked backwards to keep her distance, but the golem kept approaching her. "I will take care of all your needs." He said, reaching out to her before she could move away, ignoring her protests. He pulled her to him, grabbing at the back of her neck and giving a quick squeeze that made Frankie feel herself getting too heavy to stand. He caught her in his arms as she blinked up at him, fighting against whatever technique he'd used to make her fall unconscious. He gave the small smile she'd seen him learn before sleep overcame her, feeling him brush his lips against hers in what she thought he knew of as a kiss.

* * *

Deuce and Heath had also heard the loud sound, wondering if Holt had succeeded in bringing down one of the trees. Neither doubted he had the strength when as angry as he was, and his elemental abilities would have made the destruction all the more easier for the Hyde.

"You don't think your cousin might, I dunno, decide to set the whole forest on fire just to make himself feel better…do you?" Deuce asked, worried about how destructive his friend might get. If Jackson had even been on edge today, Holt definitely was going to take a while to wind down after his massive fight. Luckily it seemed that his friend was not going to get into trouble for starting the fight, although he wasn't too sure on him avoiding getting in trouble for fighting back.

Heath sighed and shook his head. "I wouldn't put it past him. But at least we know he's out here." The elemental rubbed at his eye as they walked, wincing from it every now and then. "Man, I hope Jackson's out again soon so he can tell us what he'd found." He said, Deuce looking at him curiously.

"What are you talking about dude?" Deuce asked, walking up to a tree to see if the mark on it was a fresh scorch mark or just a natural marking on it.

"Well, I only stopped for a minute to check out what he was doing when I was trailing the golem, but Jackson was in the library on his free period." Heath explained, nodding at Deuce when he pointed out another mark on a tree to agree that it was a definite scorch mark. "He said he was gonna look into anything he could find on golems, in this case, one in particular." Heath said.

"Sounds like him to get on researching right away." Deuce said. "Ghoulia might have done some too, but I doubt any of the girls had the time to do that with how much time they were trying to spend with Frankie to make sure her time alone with Midas was as little as possible." Heath nodded, looking around the area.

"Well, it looks like this is where Holt decided to take out his anger." Heath said, pointing out the various marks on the surrounding trees and gouge in one of them. The ground looked kicked up too, Heath kicking at one of the loose rocks. "But it doesn't seem like him to just burn out…I mean, elementals do that too, but he usually can't keep himself contained and leaves some sort of trail in the general direction he takes off in…" he said, Deuce looking just as concerned.

"Dude, look at that." Deuce said, looking at the ground where it sloped down into a ravine. "Maybe he tripped or something. The edge looks like it's fallen in over here." Heath shrugged but thought it was better than nothing to work with, following his friend over to look over the side but expecting to only see a fallen tree or other debris from Holt's tantrum.

"Holy smokes!" he shouted as they saw Jackson laying at the bottom, having slid farther back down during the time they had been searching for him. Heath made to try and follow his cousin down, but Deuce stopped him. "What are you doing? He's hurt!" Heath said, pulling out of the gorgon's grip.

"And you falling down in there with him isn't going to help get him out." Deuce said. "Let's get back to the school and see if we can get some rope or something. We'll get the others and pull him out." He said, Heath huffing but conceding that they needed more help and proper tools to pull his cousin out of the mud.

"Well let's be quick. He's probably been laying down there for a while now." Heath said, looking back down to his cousin. "That can't be good for whatever injuries he's got."

Deuce nodded, but had to tug on Heath's arm again to get him to step away from the edge. "Come on dude. We'll help him, but we gotta go now." He said, the two of them running back to the school grounds.

"Where do you think Frankie and Abbey are?" Heath asked, pulling out his phone to call his girlfriend as they took a moment to catch their breath and look around to see if their friends where anywhere nearby. Deuce shrugged before motioning for Heath to continue heading back to the school. "Ugh…it went straight to voicemail." Heath said, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

"Okay, let's check out supply closets or something." Deuce said as they walked through the hallways. They went through several closets, finding only a small amount of rope that didn't look nearly up to the task. As they were deciding to check out either the gymnasium or the auditorium's backstage area, they passed the entrance to the catacombs where Gil came stumbling out holding his head.

"Whoa…what happened to you?" Deuce asked, breaking stride to double back and aid their friend. Gil moaned and climbed the steps out into the hallway, letting Deuce help him. "Lagoona and I were heading back with Cleo when it became obvious Holt wasn't down there. All of a sudden, Midas showed up and blew some stuff into Cleo and Lagoona's faces. They fainted and I tried to get him away from them, but he was too strong. He knocked my head against the wall and that's all I remember." He said, shaking his head. "Midas must've taken them somewhere 'cuz when I woke up, they were gone."

"Oh man. What is that golem up to?" Heath said, grabbing at his hair. "Okay, you should stay here I guess. I'm gonna try the auditorium and grab some rope. It's been nearly twenty minutes since we started looking Deuce!" Heath said, panicking at the amount of time that they'd spent with Jackson lying out in the woods still.

"Why do you need rope? That's not gonna stop Midas…" Gil said, waving off Deuce's hand to stand on his own, claiming he was fine aside from a monster headache. But it seemed to them that Gil wasn't exaggerating, his eyes not looking like he'd gotten concussed from the knock to the head.

"We'll tell you on the way, dude." Deuce said, guiding the water monster down the hall after Heath. "Long story short, Midas went to finish the job with Holt. Jackson's out in the woods still at the bottom of a ravine and we need to get him out." He said, Gil's eyes widening and understanding Heath's panic.

"How long's he been out there?" Gil asked. Deuce gave a heavy sigh as they aided Heath in undoing some of the riggings for set pieces and curtains on the stage, the three of them having a rough time in figuring out how the ropes were organized. "Since we started looking for him I think. We heard a loud bang out in the woods not long after we started searching and I'm gonna guess it's safe to assume that was them fighting." He said, Gil giving a moan as he realized Jackson had been left out there for at least a half hour. Deuce nodded at Gil's less than eloquent but accurate remark on the situation. Heath eventually gave up at trying to get the rope to untie completely, deciding to simply burn one end to pull it out of the pulley.

"Okay, let's get going before someone tries to stop us or Midas comes back." Heath said as he and the others bundled up the rope. They raced back to the woods, going as fast as they could with having to accommodate Gil as he still struggled with overcoming his own injury. They dropped the rope once they arrived back at the ravine, Gil looking over the edge to see for himself Jackson at the bottom. "Has he moved at all since you saw him?" Gil asked, Deuce getting up from where he and Heath were tying the rope around a large rock to act as an anchor. "Aw…dude…" Deuce said, motioning for Heath to come over. "He's still pretty far down" he said, Heath resuming his work with more haste, his hair flaming and having to catch himself from letting his hands burn the rope.

"Alright…um…I'll go down and tie this around him. Can you two pull us up?" Heath asked. Gil looked to Deuce who nodded but the water monster didn't look to confident. "I know you want to get down there to check on him, but I don't think I can do that right now. My head's still not right." Gil said, wincing from both the pain and the way Heath looked as he processed his friend's honesty. Heath nodded and handed the rope to Gil. "Okay. You go down there, but please…be quick." Heath said, looking imploringly to his friend. Gil nodded and took the rope, Heath and Deuce getting a grip on the rope to help lower Gil down. A few minutes later, Gil was safely down, calling up that he was tying the rope around Jackson. He tugged on it and Deuce and Heath began the task of lifting their friends out, taking much longer than they had thought originally with the difficulty. The top of Jackson's head appeared at the edge of the ravine, Gil grabbing at the ground to pull himself over the edge before turning and pulling Jackson over the edge too. Deuce and Heath dropped the rope to help Gil, Heath turning Jackson onto his back to look him over. The three of them looked concernedly at their friend, Heath wiping the mud off of his cousin's face as he called out to him. Shakily, he put two fingers to the side of Jackson's neck and waited, Deuce and Gil watching him intently. Heath let out a sigh of relief, alerting the others that Midas hadn't done as thorough a job as he'd thought. But Heath's relieved smile dropped when Deuce tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dude, that's not good." Deuce said, drawing attention to Jackson's slightly bloodied left side. "I think he spent just enough time out here in that muck to get a bit of an infection in that…It's hotter than the surrounding area." The gorgon said, using his reptilian abilities to assess the damage done to his friend. "Guess it doesn't take too long…" he said.

"What do we do then? If Midas hears that he didn't kill Jackson from anyone, he might try again." Gil asked. Jackson wasn't looking too good, dealing with all the injuries Holt had sustained throughout the day. But Deuce seemed to have an answer ready, since Heath seemed to not be able to contribute much more as he tried to wake his cousin.

"Let's bring him to my house. It's closest and my mother's home right now. Maybe she can help clean him up." He said, motioning for Heath to help him drag Jackson out to his car. "We can call his parents from my house if he doesn't wake up soon." He said. The three of them made their way as carefully as they could to Deuce's car, driving to Deuce's house at a high speed. But it seemed that for a while after the end of the school day, the police liked to keep a patrol car nearby just in case there was someone like Deuce. He groaned as he saw the lights flashing and the siren blare once. "Just pull over. They can help." Gil said from the passenger seat. Deuce did as he said, seeing the sheriff get out of the car that they'd gotten to know over that one Halloween. He rolled down the window as the man practically sauntered up to the door, beginning his prepared speech to speeding teenagers.

"Sir, you need to help us." Deuce said, motioning to Heath and Jackson in the backseat. The sheriff looked taken aback at the abrupt tone before looking in the back like Deuce asked. "Holy moley!" the sheriff asked. "You should've called an ambulance son!" the sheriff said, reaching for his radio.

"Wait sir!" Gil called over to him. "The guy who did this to him will come after him again if he hears that he didn't finish the job – that's what golems do." He said, the sheriff looking confusedly at the boy.

"Boy, your friend needs a hospital five minutes ago. I need to call this in." he tried to reason with the group. "I don't know about those golems you're talking about but if there's a threat wandering around, you need to tell me more." He said.

"Sir, the golem always manages to hear anything that has anything to do with Fr…with his mistress. He'll be listening for anything he sees as threats. Let us handle this monster problem...follow us to my house. It's not as bad as it looks – I think." He said. The sheriff looked like he was debating over letting these monsters do what they needed to do as they said, not having a lot of knowledge about how monsters handled things, and with performing his job's duties. He sighed and rubbed his face. "Fine. I'll follow you, but unless things start looking better for that boy…is that the same one we…." He started to say as he looked closer at Jackson in recognition.

"Yeah, it's him." Deuce said, looking from the sheriff to the road and back again to convey his impatience. "He's only partly human and probably should see an actual normie doctor, but we need to keep him safe."

"Alright. Go." The sheriff said, walking back to his car. "I'll follow!" he shouted back to them, Deuce pulling away with the police car following him. He raced back to his house and pulled into the driveway, the sheriff pulling up with flashing lights on the curb. Deuce and the others jumped out of the car as quickly as possible to get Jackson out. Deuce's mother came outside to see what was going on, the lights cluing her into something going on. The sheriff turned off the lights and got out of the car to help Heath carry Jackson inside the house.

"Deuce, what is going on?!" Medusa asked her son, taking in the appearance of her son's friend. Deuce and the sheriff stood in the living room looking for a proper place to put Jackson when Medusa sprang into action. She gestured for them to follow her, Jackson being placed in the guest bedroom on the bed. "Deuce you better start explaining." She said as she looked over Jackson for his injuries. "Is that a gunshot wound?!" she asked. Deuce gulped and nodded, his mother shouting out for the boys to get her things from the kitchen and the bathroom before asking the sheriff to help her get Jackson's muddied clothes off so she could treat him.

"It's been a few centuries since I did this as a profession but Jackson's tough. It doesn't look too bad." She said as she examined Jackson. The sheriff didn't know what to say in response, keeping quiet as he did what she asked. "He should've been brought to a hospital Deuce…" she said when her son walked back into the room with an armful of supplies.

"I know, I know…but there's a golem after him" Deuce explained. "Remember I told you one of the girls had summoned him? Well, he's decided everybody's a threat to her, particularly Jackson and _especially _when he's Holt." He said. The sheriff looked overwhelmed before realizing that they were talking about the same kid, remembering his monster heritage as having an alter ego. "Like Pygmalion…" Deuce said, sounding like he was trying to get him mother to approve of his decisions.

"That play we're reading in English class?" Heath asked in a confused tone. Medusa sighed as she tried to deal with Heath's question. "No Heath…" Medusa said with a mother's patience, "…this isn't My Fair Lady. He means the Greek myth. Probably the original golem." She said. Heath nodded but still looked as clueless as the sheriff as he worked with the gorgon woman to wash the mud off of Jackson while she mixed herbs and medicines.

"A man sculpted a woman according to what he thought of as perfect. She tended to him like a good servant and he wanted her to be his wife. She took on that role too but became obsessed with allowing only her to serve him and be with him and he had to use spell after spell to try and get her to not inflict pain and misery on those who she thought were out to take him from her." Medusa recounted as she gingerly wiped the dried blood off of Jackson's side. "Eventually he worked things out with help from Aphrodite, but it tells how golems can be warped if not crafted quite right."

She began to apply the medicine to sterilize the area, Jackson gasping and trying to bolt upright as he registered the pain and his confusion over his surroundings. The sheriff helped hold him on the bed, Jackson wincing and breathing heavily as he tried to relax enough to figure out what was going on. Jackson took a couple of deep breaths before opening his eyes again to take in his surroundings.

"Easy Jackson…you'll be alright. It's not that bad, maybe little worse than a bad scrape. It probably stings like crazy though, but I'm working on that." Medusa said, stroking the side of his head. "Deuce and the others brought you here from the woods."

"I have to go find Frankie. He's gonna try and take her away so it's just him and her forever…" Jackson said, twisting as though to get out of the bed on his own, but the sheriff's hand on his shoulder had him do a double-take. "Wait…if you're here, did he already take her?" he asked, panic in his voice as he renewed his struggles to get up.

"Jackson, dude, calm down before you do more damage." Deuce said from behind his mother. "You're starting to bleed again man." Jackson took a moment to look down at himself, eyes widening as he fully comprehended the extent of his injuries. It seemed that by not looking at the injury, he was able to keep pushing forward, but forced not to ignore it seemed to zap him of whatever reserves he'd been running on. He slumped back on the bed, Heath coming to take over where the sheriff had been standing.

"Hey 'cuz…" he said gently as Jackson took in gasping breaths through the pain. "What was Holt up to this time?" Jackson asked through a smile laced with pain. Heath gave a short laugh as he once again looked after his cousin dealing with Holt's exploits that left him worse for wear.

"He apparently challenged the golem to a duel to the death. You shouldn't have done that." Heath said, keeping Jackson's attention on him as Medusa tried to gently finish cleaning the wound. "But I think you can call this a win since you aren't dead."

"Ugh…Not yet." Jackson said, gasping as Deuce's mother applied more pressure than she had been before. Heath placed his hands on his cousin's shoulders to keep him still. "Don't think like that. You'll be taken care of in no time. Just gotta get that infection dealt with and then a little rest." Heath tried to sound positive, but Jackson shook his head. "Holt's put you through worse. This is nothing."

"No time. Trismegistus…runes and Coptic texts…" Jackson mumbled as Heath did his best to keep him awake. He looked over to the others but Jackson continued to try and talk with them. "The golem summoning passed down but the alchemist didn't do it right."

"Jackson, what are you talking about?" Gil asked, handing a fresh bowl of water to Deuce's mother and a clean towel for her to use. He had his own block of ice to help with the headache he was still dealing with, his tank not absolutely necessary with the water-laden towels wrapped around his neck so he could get some relief for his head. The sheriff had by this point decided to stand back and wait until Jackson was bandaged before demanding questions.

"He's got a fever from the infection, but I don't think it's too high for him to start hallucinating unless there was something else that got in the wound." Medusa said, beginning to apply the other mix she'd made that looked like a green paste more akin. "You're going to need to hold him." she said to Heath, whose eyes widened. Gil walked around the bed to help Heath keep Jackson still, Deuce holding his other leg as his mother began to work.

"No, wait!" Jackson said, but Medusa had already begun applying the salve. Jackson gasped, appearing to not be able to properly breathe for a moment as the medicine got into his system. "Breathe Jackson!" Heath said when it didn't look like his cousin was going to realize he needed to consciously make the effort to inhale. Medusa looked up from what she was doing, one of the longer snakes from her hair coming to slither across Jackson's chest as far as it could before it bit into him.

"What are you doing?!" Heath yelled to her, but it seemed to do the trick as Jackson took in a gasping breath, chest heaving as he regained his breath before shouting loudly in pain and irritation at nobody listening to his protests. "Sometimes the medicine causes that reaction. It's made with ingredients that can easily be countered by a little venom if an adverse reaction occurs. Loosens up the blood." She explained calmly, trying to ease the panic on Heath and Gil's faces. A thud in the corner of the room had them all turn to see the sheriff had fainted.

"So much for him being able to help us find the others." Deuce said, not willing to move until his mother started to actually bandage Jackson.

"That shouldn't have happened like that though. Something else definitely got into his system. Probably whatever was on the golem at the time since you said he'd been fighting with him." Medusa said, nodding to Deuce to hand her the bandages and gauze. Jackson whimpered a few times after that as she had Gil and Heath lift him up a little to wrap the bandages all the way around his torso. Once he was laid back down, Medusa left with Deuce to try and revive the sheriff in as least traumatic a way as possible. The two boys were going to leave the room to follow, as it looked like Jackson was passing out from the medicine, but Jackson grabbed Heath's arm.

"I need to get back out there and follow him." Jackson said, his stubbornness coming back now that his side had been wrapped. He was relieved to find that Medusa hadn't been lying to get him to stay still, finding that the bullet really had only grazed him. It was the shock and the tumble afterwards combined with the earlier aches and sores from Holt's first encounter with the golem that had left him feeling more drained than usual after transforming back into himself. He'd managed to sit up some, but his cousin held him back. Gil looked over to Heath to tell if he wanted any help, but Heath waved off his friends concern, coming back to sit by the side of the bed.

"I know you want to go back out and help her, but you're in no real condition to do that. Come on Jackson. You're smart enough to figure that out." Heath said, but Jackson wouldn't ease up on his grip.

"I found in the library a record of some guy with the name Stobaeus, a practitioner of alchemy and an amateur wizard from the early Middle Ages. He made the golem Frankie found, dressed him in silver clothes 'cuz he never could quite make gold." Jackson rushed to explain, Heath looking more engrossed in what he had to say now that it didn't seem like delusional ramblings. Seeing his cousin giving him the benefit of the doubt, he continued to explain around the occasional grimace. "This guy may have been the same guy who put together a bunch of ancient mystical writings belonging to the medieval group of Hermes Trismegistus, or knew of his work enough to try and copy him…it's what took me a while to figure out how Midas was able to perform any magic at all when golems shouldn't have any, or a weapon like the one he did this to me with." He said, clenching his eyes and grasping Heath's hand tighter as he fought the sleep induced by his gorgon friend's mother.

"Man…I've gotten used to Holt's typical disregard for caring for us, but why does it seem to just be getting more frequent? At least this isn't too bad. Man, I thought he and I were getting along better…" Jackson mumbled, veering off his train of thought as he rambled about the difficulties of his alter ego's personality. "Good thing the golem didn't really know how a gun was supposed to work. He might have actually hit me, you know, more than this." Jackson said as he looked himself over. Gil called out to Deuce and Medusa to come back as Heath tapped gently on Jackson's cheek to get him to focus again.

"What about this guy? What's it got to do with defeating the golem?" Heath asked. "He took the girls, Jackson, just like you thought. How can we stop him?"

Jackson took a moment to regain his senses, blinking a few times before trying to sit up again. Heath growled in frustration at Jackson's inability to listen, seeing where Holt's personality drew his own excessively stubborn nature. Gil sighed in frustration too, coming over to help Heath gently ease Jackson back onto the bed. "Jackson. The golem. Why did this guy get rid of him?" Gil asked again to get answers from his friend. Jackson turned to look at him, seeming to be lucid but his next question threw them.

"Where are my pants?" Jackson asked in absolute seriousness. Gil and Heath looked to each other before bursting out laughing. "Seriously, I need my pants." Jackson said over their laughs. Deuce came walking back into the room while his mother attempted to ease the sheriff's unsettled state at having been thrust further into the monster world than he'd clearly anticipated.

"What's got you two laughing?" Deuce asked, feeling a small smile form on his face despite the situation. Jackson looked around Gil to see Deuce. "Deuce, my pants, I need them. I've got something." Jackson said, earning a fresh round of laughs from the two others and a curious look from Deuce who grabbed the pants off the floor. "Dude, they're all dirty and you don't need them. You're not going anywhere right now. We won't tell about seeing you in your underwear" He said. Jackson growled and surprised the others by pulling away from Heath's hold to snatch the pants out of his friend's hands.

"Whoa! Jackson…you undo all my mom's work and she's not gonna be pleased." Deuce said, watching as Jackson winced but started rifling through one of his pockets. He pulled out a small fragment of tarnished silver before dropping the pants and collapsing back onto the bed with Gil's guidance. "See. Silver…from Midas' helmet, I think…I don't know where Holt got it, but I knew it was in my pocket when I landed on it." Jackson said, pointing to the bruise that was forming on his thigh. "And I would prefer to have my pants on anyway, guys…" Jackson said, Heath chuckling again at the blush forming on his cousin's face. "But this might be the only thing to get through his armor." Jackson said as he replaced the piece in his pant pocket before Heath grabbed them out of his hands.

"Okay. I know full thoughts might be difficult right now, but can you get to the point please?" Gil asked, Jackson making a face of irritation at his friend. "Look, the silver is tarnished because this guy made the golem a little too good. Midas went overboard then like he's doing now, convinced that the only way to protect his master was to take away the temptations that had the potential to get him into trouble – the actual armor he's wearing, and the silver cape that he'd imbued with magical properties like he did with the sword. Midas essentially kept his master a prisoner in a gilded cage, cut off from the outside world by using the tools he'd thought he needed to take to serve out his duties." Jackson explained, yawning a little and shivering.

"Guys, please…some pants or something. I'm freezing." Jackson said, Deuce rolling his eyes but grabbing a blanket from the closet to drape over his friend.

"You're not freezing Jackson. You have a slight fever." Heath said, feeling his cousin's forehead to make sure it hadn't gotten any worse. "That cut…well, it's more than a cut, but let's just call it that for those of us more squeamish…" he started, giving a look to Gil over their amusement at the sheriff's reaction, "Anyway, it got infected from you lying in that muck for so long. So no more damsel chasing for you cuz'" he said. But Jackson didn't seem to hear him, his eyelids drooping more once he snuggled under the blanket.

"Jackson, come on man." Gil said, shaking him a little. "Sleep after you finish explaining." He said, Jackson groaning in discomfort and Gil giving him a sheepish smile for having been a little rougher than he should have with him.

"The guy's mentor figured out something was up when he hadn't heard from him in a month and was able to seal him with the leftover silver his student had used to craft the armor and cape, since it had the same kind of magic in it. According to the story I read, he took the inscription with the runes…or maybe it was Coptic writing…either way, he took that and stuck it inside the object he'd crafted with some sort of medieval version of super sticky glue." Jackson mumbled, his voice getting softer as he looked about ready to drift off. "Find what was used to summon him and you'll find the inscription that keeps the golem running around with a singular purpose. Once we get the inscription out, then we can tear it up and bake the thing before it goes completely off the deep end and looks more like a Hyde on a really bad day." Jackson finished, yawning and drooping his head onto his cousin's hand. Heath looked torn about letting his fall asleep yet or not.

"We need to ask him where he might go, dude. Wake him up for just another minute or two." Deuce said. "The sheriff's going to go back to the station to start setting up a search for our missing friends, but if we can give him anything else to go on…" he explained, Heath sighing and gently urging his cousin to wake up.

"Jackson, come on. One more question for the genius and then you can sleep this off." Heath said, groaning a little when it seemed like nothing was waking his cousin up again. "Jackson!" Heath shouted to him, shaking him a little harder. Jackson gasped as his side was jerked, eyes flying open and Heath apologizing profusely as he realized what he'd inadvertently done. Gil lifted up the blanket to take a look at the bandages.

"Uh oh…" Gil mumbled, "He might need to have that redone. Looks like you undid a little of the wrappings Jackson." He said, Jackson hissing at the loss of the blanket as the others looked over the bandages too. Deuce sighed and went to get his mother, Heath apologizing again. "Well he's up so let's ask away before we have to go through this again." He said, Heath nodding.

"Jackson, where do you think he might go?" Heath asked but Jackson seemed to be having trouble staying awake at this point. "Jackson? What else did he hit you with?" Heath asked as he looked over his cousin again. They'd made sure to tell Deuce's mother all that had happened when he was Holt too, and she didn't seem to find any indication of internal damage, finding that a Hyde's enhanced healing had already started to fix a lot of the bruises and cuts. Medusa came back in with her son, Gil getting up to make room for her.

"Midas has all the magic tricks and potions his master had. But the armor tarnishes when it's purposes are corrupted…" Jackson mumbled as he managed to look more awake. "I think I got hit with that tarnish or rust or whatever corrosion that's going on by the golem using it rather than a regular person." He said, Medusa looking more concerned over that piece of information.

"Enchanted metals are more difficult to deal with than enchanted clothing when dealing with what a person can take into battle with them." She said, thinking about a few ancient warriors she'd had to face with such weapons. "If it's tarnished because it's not cared for by continued magical treatments – the same thing as corrupted - then it could be…problematic… in getting it out of your system unless it's destroyed. It might take a few more applications of that salve." She said, working to stop the bleeding again from when Jackson had been roughly awakened. Jackson groaned at the idea of having more of that stuff being placed on him but Medusa was already mixing more ingredients.

"How are we supposed to destroy it ma'am?" The sheriff asked from where he stood in the doorway, clearly not wanting to enter the room again unless absolutely necessary. "Bullets aren't going to stop this thing?" he asked, Medusa shaking her head. "Not likely…but you can slow it down with them long enough to possibly trap it for a little while." She said, the sheriff not looking too thrilled with his options.

"We'll figure that out once we find the thing and the girls." Gil said. "Jackson might have some guess, but he's not really up for talking anymore right now."

"It'll…want to get…someplace distant to create….a portal like its master…." Jackson gasped out as Medusa reapplied more of the green salve, shouting out again and making both gorgons' snakes hiss. "It would look for…something familiar…to traveling. Opening a portal with his limited magic would require…using one of the base elements of alchemy…" he said, before groaning again and going still on the bed.

"What happened?" Deuce said, alarmed at how quickly Jackson had gone from writhing in pain to no movement at all. Medusa felt Jackson's forehead again before taking his pulse. "He's just passed out –about time with all the sleeping aides I gave him. His pulse is faster than it should be, but that's got to be from whatever's gotten into his system." She said, readjusting the blanket over Jackson before standing up. "I'll see what I have on hand to counter that, but I think the best way to fix it immediately is to get rid of the golem sooner rather than later. But I don't think there's anything to really worry about right now. Nothing too bad than Holt's usual messes you've shared with me." She said, patting her son on the shoulder as he worried over his friend as they all left the room to stand in the hallway while Medusa went into the basement to take stock of what supplies she had.

"I got it!" The sheriff said. "It's basic profiling. He's from the Middle Ages you said?" he asked Deuce, having gotten a brief reiteration of what Jackson had said when he came back out to grab his mother. "Well there aren't many horses or carriages around, so he's going to look for a ship to set sail on. If what your friend said is right, I think he's going to head to the wharf. Water's one of those basic elements your friend was talking about, right?" The sheriff reasoned. "I'm going to head back to the station to gather some men and start our search. We'll alert your friends' families but you should remain here." He said, walking out of the house to get in his car. The three boys weren't entirely sure what to say to him, but rushed to follow him out of the house. The sheriff turned to give them a stern look, pointing at them to emphasize his point for them to stay behind before getting in his car and driving away.

"We're not actually going to wait around here while that golem takes our girls, are we?" Heath asked. Gil and Deuce both shook their heads. "Not a chance. Come on. Let's see what more we can do here before we head out." Deuce said as the three walked back inside. "We'll call Clawd and Ghoulia to see if they can help us. Or at least let them know what's going on."

The three walked back into the house to find Medusa standing in the living room. "Mom, we're gonna…" he started to say but she cut him off. "I know what you plan to do. What I don't know, is what you did with your friend." She said, taking the others by surprise. "I just went back into the room and he's not there." she said, looking at them as though hoping that Jackson might pop out from behind one of them.

"How could he not be there? I thought you said he'd passed out?" Gil asked in confusion, Medusa giving him a look that made him cringe at the tone he'd used. But she let it go considering all that had happened. "Either way, he isn't in the bed, nor is he in the bathroom. But his clothes, minus the bloody shirts, are gone too." she said.

"Oh no...that sneaky little…." Heath said, hoping his cousin hadn't been faking sleep to hear where they were planning on going. "How's he even going to get to the wharf if he's…" he started to ask but a car engine starting alerted them to what was going on. Looking out the window, they saw Medusa's car backing out of the driveway before tearing down the street.

"Go after him. He's going to get himself killed – or somebody else if he crashes my car." Medusa said, realizing her son's friend had taken the brief opportunity to snatch her keys and head out the back door. "I'm going to call his parents and see if we can meet you there. Be careful" she said, kissing her son on the side of his head before they all took off. She watched them go with an apprehensive look, wondering just how much more danger her son was going to be in that night.

* * *

Frankie blinked her eyes open as she realized that she was lying on something soft, letting herself to turn her head to lean further into whatever she was resting on. "Are you well mistress?" Frankie heard Midas ask, causing her to widen her eyes as she recalled all that had happened. She realized she had been resting on Holt's jacket as she lay on a bench in the shade wherever Midas had brought her.

"Where are the others Midas?" Frankie asked, feeling stiff. "Why am I so stiff?" she asked as she looked for the golem. Looking around as best she could from her position on her back, she took in her surroundings, noticing the old section of the stone wharf that Jackson had given her a historical tour of for one of their dates, the two of them having stayed away from this more deteriorated area. Thinking about it made her breath catch as she thought about how she would never get to experience another of his thoughtful gestures to cater to her favorite things to do. She saw a small ship attached to the crumbling dock, turning to look for the golem before gasping as she spotted what he was working on. He had a rope in his hand that he was tying of to a lever, which suspended a large cage from one of the remaining wooden beams that had been used to lower larger and heavier cargo onto ships. Cleo, Abbey and Lagoona looked back at her from the cage, their hands tied in front of them and their arms tied to the sides as they grabbed at the bars to keep themselves upright. They had been gagged too, their shouts of either warning or concern to Frankie muffled. Frankie tried to get herself to stand, but her friends shook their heads, causing her to stop moving.

"I have remedied your perpetual ailment, Frankie" Midas said as he finished up. "All we need do now is to wait for the appropriate time for me to be able to open the portal to a more suitable realm for all of us to remain until the end of our existence. I can care for all you and your female companions require to keep you properly protected and content." He said. Frankie looked to her friends again, seeing a tear run down Lagoona's face.

"How did you…remedy things Midas?" Frankie asked, dreading the answer since her friends seemed to be so worried. She tried to get herself to move, but found that that all of her efforts were hampered by the fact that she didn't seem to have the same fluidity in her limbs anymore.

"I treated you with a concoction of animal fats and other ingredients to ensure that you do not inadvertently cause yourself to lose a portion of yourself. It will adhere to your stitches and cause them to suction together in a more adequate fashion those areas. Movement will be limited for you, but no longer necessary now that I have procured a means of transport to travel through the portal I shall create. " Midas said, Frankie's eyes widening in horror at what he said. "It will not harm you in any way and I shall always be by your side Frankie. I shall carry you wherever necessary so that you needn't walk. And all other functions I may be able to assist you with as well, so that you may not cause any more damage to yourself. Your companions will also be there to assist you in feminine matters, as you said, and provide you with emotional comfort if I am unable." He continued, the girls whimpering as Frankie realized they had been forced to watch as Midas did this to her while she was unconscious. She felt tears of her own start to leak out of her eyes, finding it extraordinarily difficult to raise an arm to wipe them away. But Midas seemed to sense her desire, coming over to wipe away with a handkerchief her tears.

"Your friends were creating too much noise and tried to intervene one too many times for me to have allowed them to remain unbound while we waited. I have some reservations about taking all of them, but I defer to your original proposal mistress." Midas said, stroking her face fondly. "I assure you I have learned more about how to be more…of what you wanted. I have developed more of my own…emotions. I believe I can properly give you all emotional and physical comfort you may desire." Midas said, bending over and surprising Frankie by giving her a kiss.

"Midas…" Frankie began, but found herself chocking back a sob as she struggled with what to say. "Let them go…" she whispered, trying to save whomever she could with what little time was left for her to remain in this realm. She looked to her friends, all of them shaking their heads at Frankie's request. Midas looked curiously at Frankie.

"I do not understand Frankie. You said you would need female companionship due to how I was…" he started to say but Frankie interrupted. "They don't want to go, Midas. You're right. You can…you can care for all my needs…" she said, voice rising in pitch as she was on the verge of crying again. Abbey began to kick at the bars in an attempt to break free, but succeeded in only swinging the cage and having Cleo fall on top of her.

"They appear to want to join you mistress." Midas said as he looked over to the girls. "And your previous argument has some validity. You may think otherwise, but I am here to help ensure no bad choices are made anymore. I will help with everything." The golem said, standing to tighten the ropes that Abbey's kicking had loosened slightly. Frankie sobbed again as she realized she wasn't going to be able to release her friends even if they were willing to leave her behind.

"Why are you doing this Midas?" she asked in a small voice, feeling the emotional exhaustion taking its toll on her. The golem approached her again with a smile. "I must serve you and protect you Frankie. That is all I will ever do. It is all I _want_ to do." He said, emphasizing that last part. "You have named me and cared for me in return. I belong to you and I will not let the bonds that tie you to me be severed either." He said, his gaze hardening in his determination. "I…I…I love you Frankie" he said, Frankie letting a tear slide down her cheek. "You belong to me." He said, wiping her tears away again before getting up to attend to the ship as they waited for whatever Midas was looking for to be able to open his portal.

Frankie looked to her friends with a grief on her face. "I'm so sorry you guys. I tried to make him let you go…" she cried to them, her friends gazing back at her in understanding sympathy. "I'm so sorry to everyone…Jackson, Holt…Midas said he killed him…." she cried, Lagoona and Cleo's eyes widening as they learned what Frankie had been told. Lagoona looked to Abbey for confirmation and the yeti gave a nod, her eyes watering too before they turned to icicles she had to shake her head sharply to get off her face. Her eyes widened as she looked like she had an idea. She closed her eyes and the others watched as the gag slowly started to freeze. Once it was frozen, she banged her head against the side of the bars a couple of times, the others wincing as they watched. But the gag shattered and Abbey took in a deep breath after releasing herself.

"Frankie. He be waiting for right time of day to set sail. I think he say something about tapping into energy or something when Cleo ask." Abbey said, twisting her face around as she recovered from her method of gag removal. "I think we have enough time to get out warning for help to come if one of us can get out." She said, attempting to lift her hand up enough to freeze the bars. "Ugh…is no good. I cannot do it quickly. Must take long road." She said, attempting to use her constrained abilities to freeze the bottom of the cage.

"Abbey, don't make him think you're a threat. I don't want to have to watch you get hurt…or worse." Frankie pleaded to her friend. Abbey paused her movements to look back up at Frankie. "You think it easy to watch him slather that stuff on you and watch it harden? No. I getting us out and we fix you." The yeti said in a determined voice. "Animal fat glue can be reversed. Just need to get it done before hardens permanently." She said, Cleo and Lagoona looking at her curiously as she explained, but shrugging to each other as they realized it was just another quirk of their friends to know these sorts of things. But Cleo's muffled voice caused her to stop trying to freeze the bars enough to shatter them when Midas came back up from the dock.

"You have lost your gag. I will have to acquire another for you." The golem said, pulling out the handkerchief he'd used to dry Frankie's tears and walking over to the cage.

"Wait! Midas, wait! I wanted to talk with her so she found a way to take it off." Frankie called out, hoping that would be enough to get the golem to leave her friends alone and not get any closer to see what she'd been up to. The golem looked over to Frankie. "Is there something you require?" he asked almost eagerly, as though a chance to serve her would prove that he loved her. Frankie was tempted to make a ridiculous requests like a hamburger to get him to take longer, but he would no doubt assure her once again that he would be able to provide her with food in a short amount of time that would not pose a serious health threat in the long run in favor of permanent security for her.

"I was…scared." Frankie said, not entirely lying to the golem. Midas looked at her with as much concern as the golem could muster, coming to kneel beside Frankie. He brushed a lock of her out of her face as he gazed at her. "There is nothing to fear anymore Frankie. I am here." He said. "We will be leaving shortly. The tide is right and everything will be in position in a matter of minutes." He said in what she thought was an attempt to soothe her.

"Then…then…." Frankie began, attempting to think of something that would give them a few minutes longer for Abbey either to free herself or for the guys to have sent help, although she thought that to be a long shot since it was likely that Midas had taken every precaution to make sure no one had seen where he'd taken them. "Will you hold me for a few minutes before you go back to finishing up? It will comfort me greatly…my love." She said, forcing herself to say the last words to appeal to whatever hollow emotions he had begun to develop. Her friends looked at her as though she had lost her mind, but Abbey caught on quickly and resumed her escape efforts.

Midas seemed to look as though he couldn't decide what emotion he was meant to be feeling, looking overwhelmed at how Frankie had addressed him. Frankie worried that she may have overdone it, but the golem gave her an actual smile rather than the floundering attempts she had seen him regularly do in imitations that weren't quite the same thing. "Of course Frankie. I am pleased that you understand and I will always be willing to accommodate such an amenable request to the both of us." He said, easing Frankie up to hold her in his lap tightly, appearing to delight in holding her because she had asked rather than in an instance of immediate danger to her. Frankie remained silent as he stroked her hair while they sat that way for a few moments, Frankie hearing creaking that she hoped was Abbey's success with the bars.

"Come. It is time." Midas said, standing with Frankie to lay her back on the bench. "But I must first lower your friends into the boat, to be sure that it will hold the weight of the cage. If it does not, then you may take comfort in knowing that you will yet have one girl accompany us on our voyage." He said, Cleo's eyes widening and shouting loudly through the gag over her mouth. Frankie looked over at them with fear in her eyes, not knowing what else to do to stall Midas since he wasn't allowing even Frankie's requests for him to be near her deter him. She silently prayed that whatever else Midas planned to do wouldn't cause any more harm to the three of them, not sure if her spirit could handle any more tragedies. Quiet tears rolled down her cheek again as she watched Midas load the ship with supplies she wasn't sure how he had gotten, leaning her cheek into the jacket that she believed was all that she would ever have left of her boyfriend.

* * *

Deuce, Gil and Heath crammed into the car, getting ready to race after their friend as he headed on what was more than likely a suicide mission. Gil's phone rang and he hastily grabbed it, seeing that Clawd was calling him.

"Hey man, not a good time to talk. But how's your sister?" the water monster asked, gripping the side of the door to keep from being tossed as Deuce took a tight turn, concerned that his tank might come loose with the amount of tumbling he was doing in the backseat even with the seatbelt on. "Is Draculaura there now too?" Heath and Deuce waited to hear from Gil whatever Clawd had to say, Gil nodding to them to give them an answer about their friends.

"Hey, guys, we need to stop at Frankie's. Turn up here Deuce." Gil said urgently, the gorgon huffing in frustration as he turned to backtrack and head away from the wharf and toward Frankie's house. Heath also looked like he wanted to argue but Gil held up a hand to keep him quiet long enough for him to hear what Clawd was saying to him.

"Okay. Clawdeen's sure that's what…how can we be sure that Midas hadn't grabbed it between then and now?" Gil asked, putting Heath on edge even more as his hair starting to flame up again, Deuce opening the sunroof in his car to keep his friend from burning a hole in the roof.

"Yeah…he did go after the others. And we did find Jackson, but we sorta lost him again…it's an ongoing thing right now." Gil said, sounding both exhausted with the whole thing and irritated that they hadn't been able to get any further in their goal of putting things back the way things were before the golem had showed up. He ended his call with the werewolf as they pulled up at Frankie's house. The three sprinted over to the door as soon as Deuce turned the engine off.

"I don't think her parents are home yet, dudes. How are we going to…" Deuce started to say before flinching as Heath kicked at the door, using an intense, directed flame at the same time to break the lock and knock the door down.

"Whoa…" Gil said, following Heath as his friend walked over the fallen door and into the house. "I know we're pressed for time, but I don't think Frankie's parents are gonna be pleased with this Heath." Deuce nodded in agreement as the three walked into Frankie's room, watching Heath looking around as though expecting something to just jump out at him.

"Clawd said his sister's doing much better – it's only as bad as a bad case of food poisoning. She and Ghoulia explained to him how Frankie summoned Midas from some silver bell, Clawdeen sure that Frankie was keeping it in a box she was hiding from the golem to wait for the right time to release him without any danger…" Gil said as he grabbed a jewelry box and opening it to find knick-knacks inside. "So much for that…" he muttered and shut the box in irritation at not finding anything that matched Clawdeen's description.

"Okay, if we all look for it, we're bound to find it." Deuce said, kneeling to look around under some of the furniture in her room. Heath sighed but refrained from any more destructive acts, appearing for once to do his best to keep his flame under control.

"We don't have time for this. Midas could have taken it already. Or Frankie had it on her." Heath said, throwing his hands up in the air in his frustration. But Gil shook his head as he turned to look at Heath. "Clawd said Ghoulia told him that Cleo had made sure Frankie kept it in the same place to avoid Midas getting a glimpse of it. Frankie told them that she followed Cleo's advice, but Ghoulia didn't know where exactly Frankie was keeping it – just in a box, in her room." Gil said.

"Wait…" Heath said as he looked at the lab cage with white rats in it. "If she wanted to find a hiding spot both secure and secret, she'd try and be clever and keep it in a spot the golem wouldn't look twice at if he looked for it." He said, picking up the cage. He looked over to his friends with a grimace on his face. "Man, I hope I'm right…" he said, not wanting to open the cage and let the rats escape if he could avoid having the critters crawl over him. But he took in a deep breath and opened the door, reaching in and feeling around the bottom where large mounds of straw and hay had been layered to provide bedding for the animals. He scrunched up his face as it appeared he'd been too hasty, until he looked closer at the water dispenser. Taking it off the bars of the cage, he undid the top of the canister to find Frankie had stuck the bell over the top to make it look like it was another part of the canister. "In a box in her room." Heath said, holding up the bell for the others to see. Deuce took it from Heath's hand to look at it himself. "Okay, let's not do anything to it just yet, in case the golem goes completely mad and decides to destroy everything. You know, more than it already has..."Deuce said, tossing the bell back to Heath, "…Right now, we have some sort of an idea of what he plans on doing if Jackson's right. And he normally is, so let's get to the wharf." He said, the three of them walking back out the front door.

"Guys, we can't leave their house open like this." Gil said as he looked at the door they'd stepped over again. Deuce looked back and nodded, pulling Heath back over to help put the door upright. The three of them quickly returned the door to its proper position, stepping back to let Heath weld the hinges back together. "It'll keep it from looking like it's unprotected at least." Gil said as they got back into the car. "The Steins will probably have no problem in getting it open with their strength. I think" he said, once again looking for a handle to keep himself from getting tossed in the backseat. They drove in silence for a minute or two as they headed for the wharf until another ringtone went off, this time Heath pulling out his phone.

"Jackson. Thank goodness you took your phone, 'cuz I'm gonna hit you with it once we find you. Where are you now?!" Heath yelled into the phone, running a hand through his hair as he talked with his cousin. "You know what? Wait…I'm gonna put you on speaker." He said, before Deuce's driving had him bounce his head off the window. He hissed and glared at Deuce but the gorgon didn't look up from the road as he gave him a sheepish apology, Heath rubbing his head.

"Sorry guys…I had to follow him." Jackson's voice filtered through Heath's phone. "He's at the old wharf, not the…one being used today…." Jackson said, sounding like it was taking a lot of effort. "You guys need to get here soon…I'm gonna make sure his magical abilities….won't affect you guys too. That silver from his armor is the only thing that'll be strong enough to tear his cape. After that, the girls should be freed and you can destroy that thing." Jackson said, the three of them hearing the exhaustion in his voice as he pushed himself further.

"Sorry I took your mom's car Deuce. It's at the wharf…I walked to the older one from there when I didn't see them. It was a lot longer of a walk than I expected…" Jackson said, giving a breathless laugh at the end as though to try and keep the situation lighter.

"It's okay dude. But you gotta stop moving. Mom said that stuff that infected that gash in your side is only going to spread faster that way man." Deuce said, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "Don't try and take him on again. We've got the bell that summoned him and we'll be there in a couple of minutes. Just wait." He said, imploring his friend to be rationale.

But Jackson groaned a little before catching his breath to respond. "Can't wait. He's doing something now – I can see them. I have to get down there, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to on my own." He said.

"See. Even you know that waiting is a good idea." Gil said, sounding just as worried as Deuce. "We'll be there in a minute or two Jackson. Just stay still and let us come help."

"No…_I_ can't do it on my own…but _Holt_ can." Jackson said, his voice sounding farther away as he came to that conclusion, laughing incredulously a few times. "Jackson…" Heath said warily, not liking where his cousin was headed with his plan.

"Holt can tear his cape and maybe do a little more damage before you get here. Or last longer before the golem…well…Just in case I don't get to talk to you again anytime soon…" Jackson began, "Thanks for coming back for me guys." Heath shouted his cousin's name out again before realizing that his cousin had ended the call. Heath's hair ignited again as he clenched his phone in his hand, Deuce forcing his car to go faster. They flew by the wharf, seeing several police cars there in their brief glimpse of the area. They continued down the road at a slower pace, looking for the area Jackson had talked about. Deuce pulled the car over when it looked like the road began to head away from the water.

"Okay guys. We're walking from here." He said, the three of them heading out of the car as quickly as they could. Gil took the lead, instinctually knowing which way was the shortest to get to the water. They walked in silence as they combed through the wooded area for any sign that might lead them to the old wharf, Jackson's brief phone call hinting that it couldn't have been too far from the current wharf. They all shared looks of frantic worry for their friend as well as the kidnapped girls, Heath clenching the bell tightly in his hand as they headed out.

* * *

Jackson leaned heavily on the tree he was using as cover to spy on the setup Midas had created in the rundown section of the old wharf. The stone wall that separated the platform from the rotting planks of wood that created the dock was crumbling, the staircase from the platform to the docks appearing as though from an ancient civilization from its rapid reclamation by the surrounding forest since its abandonment over a century ago. He could see Cleo, Abbey and Lagoona suspended from a rickety beam that held them just at the edge of the stone platform, eyeing the way the device had been rigged to eventually lower them onto the waiting boat. He took a deep breath before pulling out his phone to leave a recorded message for his alter ego to understand his plan, praying that Holt wouldn't just run in there blind. He needed that enhanced speed and strength to help save Frankie, his worry increasing as he saw how it seemed she was incapable of any movement on her own. He had assumed she remained asleep, but her head movements alerted him to the fact that the golem had done something to her that kept her lying on the bench while Midas put the finishing touches on the small ship. Jackson urgently said all that he knew about what was happening before giving his final piece of advice and stopping the recording,pressing the music app to begin his playlist long enough to trigger Holt. He thought he was far enough away that the golem wouldn't hear it, but he couldn't wait to find another hiding spot. He clenched the phone tightly as he felt the transformation begin, the pain in his side increasing as he felt Holt take over.

Holt looked down gasping as he registered the discomfort in his side, running a hand along his side to see that it had bled slightly but was bandaged. He twisted his head around to see himself in a forest again, noticing the phone clutched in his hand and pulling the headphones that had come back with his transformation onto his head so that he could stop the music from blaring out into the surrounding area. The Hyde would normally increase the volume of his beloved music, but his gut feeling told him that something else was up, still on edge from the last memory he had of fighting the golem. He saw the awaiting recording and watched all that Jackson had said to him before pocketing the phone and pulling out the piece of helmet he'd torn off of Midas during his fight. "I can agree with you on this, normie…" Holt whispered, looking around the tree to watch the golem's movements, guessing that he hadn't been alerted to his presence or that hadn't considered him to be a threat. "We're savin' Frankie. Even if it's the last thing I do." He said, slowly making his way down the hill to where the wharf was, following Jackson's plan with as few of his improvisations than normal. He sneaked his way into the dilapidated structure, Abbey spotting him crouching behind a portion of a fallen roof of one of the old structures nearby where the cage was hanging as he waited for a chance to get Midas in the right position for him to ambush him. The yeti seemed overjoyed to see him, but didn't say anything to alert the other girls, only giving a small smile to him in encouragement. Holt returned the smile as best he could, it turning into a wince as he grabbed at his side again. But hearing Frankie's quiet sobs had him looking up again, more determined than before to make sure that he keep the golem from taking her away.

"We must begin our sojourn to our arcadia Frankie." Midas said, walking over to the lever to begin lowering Lagoona, Cleo and Abbey onto the boat. Holt angled himself closer, taking a deep breath and springing onto the golem's back, holding onto him with all the strength he had. Midas was taken by surprise, twisting and attempting to toss his attacker off of him while Holt began to tear into the cape with the enchanted silver fragment as Jackson instructed him. Midas seemed to sense what he was doing, walking over to an area where one of the walls of a building still stood and crushing Holt into it as he backed up violently against it. Holt let out a pained yell, but didn't let go, putting more effort into getting the cape to tear more and succeeding in slicing through the cape. Midas shouted as his armor stripped off of him, leaving him in the silver servants clothing he'd had underneath the ornate chest plate and cape. Holt's grip loosened as he watched what happened as the magic was taken away from the golem's accessibility. But Midas still retained the strength of any golem, grabbing Holt off his shoulders and getting in a punch to his side that caused Holt to double over gasping in pain.

"I shall have to try harder to ensure that you remain dead when I kill you this time." The golem said, sounding more emotional than Holt had heard him before, the beginnings of true anger and loss possibly tinting the hollow words he typically spoke. The golem grabbed something out of the pouch he had strapped to his side after finding his weapon to be useless now, pulling out something that he shot at Holt when he connected another powerful punch to the blue elemental. Holt was flung back across the platform, slamming into the lever for the girls' cage, causing it to swing around before the beam snapped and the cage dropped onto the stone platform. It hit on an edge, toppling over with the girls screaming as they were tossed on top of one another. Frankie shouted out to Holt, continuing to struggle as she had from the beginning of their fight, overcoming the shock of seeing her boyfriend again. She stared at Holt as he transformed back into Jackson as his headphones slipped, lying on the ground unmoving.

Midas scooped Frankie up and made to head over to the ship but hesitated to shield Frankie from the debris that was suddenly shot at them as another portion of the crumbling wharf was demolished, Frankie looking over Midas' shoulder to see Deuce and Gil standing beside Heath who had shot at a portion of collapsed roof near the golem so as to not hit Frankie but to keep the golem from leaving. However, Midas seemed to consider his options and leapt with Frankie from the edge of the stone wall and into the boat, the wood underneath where he landed splintering from the force. He untied the rope and pushed the boat away from the dock, the ship seeming to take off on its own from whatever Midas had done to it when he had retained the magical abilities he had stolen from his previous master in another misguided attempt to be the best protector.

Jackson lifted his head up groggily, slowly moving his arms to drag himself closer to where the girls had fallen. Abbey had pulled herself out of the opening the fall had created when it shattered the bars she'd managed to freeze completely, getting up as best she could to reach Jackson while Deuce and Gil worked to pull Lagoona and Cleo out of the cage. Heath raced over to the edge of the wharf wall to see the boat getting away, turning back to see how his cousin was doing.

"Oh man…" Heath said as Deuce took the fragment Jackson still had in his hand and offered to his friend to use to tear through the ropes rather than resorting to turning them to stone to try and smash, risking hurting the girls. "We told you to wait Jackson. Oh man…" Heath repeated, eyeing the red marks on Jackson's chest from whatever else the golem had attacked him with, the bandages red on his side from being aggravated.

"Heath, come on. I'll swim you out there and we can destroy that thing before he takes Frankie away." Gil said as he freed Lagoona with the helmet fragment as Deuce finished and Cleo clung to him. Lagoona stood up and pulled the gag off of her mouth. "I'm coming too – it'll be faster. Come on! He doesn't have to get very far for that portal, even if Jacks…Holt, took away his magic." She said, the three of them running down the staircase.

"Uh…no boat." Heath muttered but Gil and Lagoona looked at him like he was crazy for making such an objection at the moment. "What? How are we gonna bring Frankie back?" He said, omitting his own distaste at the idea of having to get completely drenched when he knew he needed to be able to quickly flame up again once they reached the boat. Lagoona looked like she was considered his words, spotting a small dingy some fisherman who didn't want to pay to use to the docks at the current wharf had pulled up on the side of the bank.

"That'll have to work Heath" she said, Gil helping her to push it into the water and urging Heath to get in quickly, Gil and Lagoona pushing the boat as they swam at top speed to reach Midas and Frankie. Cleo and Abbey walked to the edge of the wall, watching as their friends approached the boat quickly.

"Come on Jackson. Just concentrate on breathing dude. You'll be okay." Deuce said as he dragged his friend away from the contraption that had held the cage, holding him up against him. His voice caused them both to turn back around and see just what state Jackson was in, Cleo gasping and covering her mouth as Jackson didn't look too good.

"Yeah…no, I'm okay. Holt's determined to run us both into the ground though." Jackson said with his usual humor, giving a small smile to his friend. "I…He…kept him here as long as possible. Got rid of his magic. Told you…had to do something." Jackson said, turning his head against his friend's chest as Deuce angled him so he could see out over the water better.

"You get yourself into more trouble than I thought possible for any normie." Deuce said, tightening his grip as Jackson whimpered at moving around again. "Sorry…sorry…" Deuce apologized.

"Not _just_…a normie…" Jackson feebly protested, although the two of them had long had running that teasing conversation as Jackson demonstrated his more monstrous qualities to them all with his elemental heritage and the hard-to-ignore Hyde side of him. Deuce laughed a little at Jackson's response, seeing his friend working to cling to whatever reserves he'd had going for him to remain awake.

"The police must've seen us fly by them at top speed to get here." Deuce said to Jackson, looking up to address Cleo and Abbey. "Help has to be on the way by now."

"Let's hope so." Cleo said, pulling out some of her spare bandages she'd been looking for and handing them to Abbey to help her try and stop Jackson's bleeding. "It's not much, but it might help." She said, the two of them wrapping them around the already bloodied bandages to apply more pressure.

"Heath able to get rid of golem now, yes?" Abbey asked, looking back out over the water. Deuce looked up from Jackson to nod to Abbey. "Absolutely." He said, the conviction in his voice giving her the hope that her boyfriend hadn't just put himself in the same situation as his cousin. "Heath's plenty angry himself right now. He's got this." The gorgon said, borrowing his friend's familiar catchphrase. Jackson laughed, whether or not in disbelief not really making a difference as they all hoped that Heath really was up to doing the final steps to finish putting away the golem before it destroyed their lives for good.

* * *

"AHHH!" Heath yelled as he dodged a powerful punch from the golem as he kept its attention on him, having climbed into the boat first so that Gil and Lagoona could maneuver Frankie as subtly as possible off the boat. "Midas this isn't cool man!" Heath said, covering himself from the splinters that showered him as the golem hit the wooden mast. "You're gonna sink the whole boat….did you make this thing too?" Heath asked, wondering where the golem could have found a completely wooden boat this small just lying around.

"I make anything my mistress requires." Midas answered, swinging again and causing Heath to stumble. "And she requires that I get rid of you." He practically growled, Heath diving between his legs in his panic. Seeing that Frankie was safely in the boat, Heath pulled out the bell from his pocket to try and undo the covering that held the matted inscription to the inside of the bell, finding the water that had leaked into the dingy on the ride to the golem's boat having moistened the medieval adhesive enough for him to begin to pull up an edge enough to get it to catch.

"Uh oh…" Heath mumbled in panic and fright as the golem turned and grabbed his legs, dragging him away from the side of the boat where he'd been crouching from his escape stunt between the golem's legs. He made a few panicked noises as Midas picked him up before the medieval paper finally caught. Heath wriggled his way loose from the golem's grip as what kept the golem's drive going was incinerated, the silver of the bell also melting from the remnants of the magic bound in the scroll reacting to the enchanted metal. Heath dropped it as it liquefied, burning a hole through the small deck. The golem stumbled, waving around wildly at Heath. "Time to bake this sculpture for good." He said, shooting a massive wall of flame at the golem as it reached out toward him. He closed his eyes as he maintained the fire for as long as he dared, hearing as the flame caught onto the wooden boat too. Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes and let out a frightened yelp as he saw a hand inches from his face as Midas had continued to try and get to him. He stared at the very terra-cotta-esque statue that would rival any of Deuce's stone statues. He gulped and tentatively knocked on the golem's arm, finding the golem completely solid. He looked at the eyes, expecting to find them following him like those Deuce had turned to stone temporarily, but realized that they were blank. In his haste to fire the clay that constructed the golem, he had only briefly recalled that the yellow irises had disappeared, leaving only the black that reflected the hollowness of the golem. He felt a small pang of sympathy before being jolted again by the calls of Gil and Lagoona, urging him to get off the burning boat and jump into the dingy. Heath made his way over to the side, tripping on the edge of the boat and tumbling over into the dingy on his back, moaning at how he landed.

"Smooth landing Heath." Gil said, an amused smile on his face. "But you did good." Heath returned the smile before looking over to Frankie to see a distraught expression on her face as she stared at the statue that had been Midas.

"I'm sorry Frankie." Heath said as they watched the ship begin to sink, Midas going down with it. "It had to be done – we didn't know any other way to get you back." Frankie gave a stiff nod, the glue starting to harden. Lagoona began to gently pour water onto her while Gil rowed back, Heath slumping against the side of the dingy. The weight of the four of them had caused the dingy to dip much farther into the water, Heath not liking how quickly it seemed to be filling with water now. But it seemed that all Frankie needed to do was to get in a good scrubbing at the coating that Midas had covered her with, Frankie and Lagoona making faces of disgust at the lumps of grease that started to gather on Frankie's skin and in Lagoona's hands. "I know this was the only option Midas left for us Heath…" Frankie eventually responded. "And I'm grateful you saved me…but I just wish there had been another way. He was…lonely." Frankie said, sympathy in her eyes.

Heath sighed but didn't look like he had anything else he was willing to say at the moment. Gil gave another strong thrust into the water with the oar, but the dingy seemed to have reached its potential, cluing them into why it had been abandoned in the first place as it tipped over and dumped them all into the water. Frankie and Heath resurfaced sputtering, Frankie's bolts sparking as she got drenched and Heath's hair laying pressed against his face in his own discomfort. Lagoona dragged Frankie as best she could over to where Gil had overturned the capsized boat to allow Frankie at least to sit in it to get as close to shore as possible. Once situated, Frankie gasped and looked over to the disgruntled fire elemental stuck in the water. "Heath…how was…" she began, but Heath's face morphed from one of discomfort to one of apprehension in his uncertainty about his cousin, picking up on her thoughts.

"I don't really know. We raced after you to stop Midas from getting that portal open." Heath said as he swam alongside the boat, one hand on the edge of the dingy. Frankie looked around franticly in the boat for something, giving out a sigh of relief that whatever had been in there when they'd tipped over had been wedged enough into the seat to still be there. Neither of her water monster friends were likely up for going for a scavenger hunt at the moment. She held up the pouch Midas had worn. "Let's hope that something in here can help him." she said, gulping at the prospect of her boyfriend's injuries having gotten the best of him while she was being rescued. "If he survived the first duel…I have to hope he's still…" she said, eyes tearing up before quieting. The rest of the swim back was in silence as the three in the water worked to get back to the wharf as soon as possible.

* * *

Cleo and Abbey had gasped as they watched the boat suddenly burst into flames, Jackson turning his face away from the sight into his friend's chest as he felt a tingling in his side. He clenched Deuce's hand tightly as he grimaced from the beatings he'd gone through that day, his friend looking away from the water to place his attention back to his friend. "Jackson? Come on now. You're not gonna die from these little things…you, uh, can't die until I say so." Deuce bargained with his friend, who blinked up at him blearily before looking back out over the waters. Cleo and Abbey had turned back to look at Jackson at Deuce's words, Cleo kneeling beside her boyfriend as he tried to keep himself and Jackson calm. "Cleo…what am I supposed to do?" Deuce asked his girlfriend, looking to her to help him figure out how to handle this. She gave him her own panicked look at having him and Abbey look to her, not quite feeling able to handle being the one the others looked to for instruction, no matter how much she usually strived to put herself in such a position daily. But this wasn't like his usual calls to her to be sure that she'd be pleased with something he'd decided to do for her or how to handle what she wanted to do. Franticly, she racked her mind for something to say to her boyfriend, but Jackson beat her to it as he attempted to sit upright more on his own so that he could see the boats.

"I think Heath did it." Jackson said, seeing what he hoped was the dingy heading back with his friends. He smiled as he gripped his side, not feeling the burn of the enchanted silver anymore and assuming the golem must have been defeated for the magical effects to be wearing off. However, he still felt exhausted, letting the tension ease out of his shoulders now that he knew there was no more danger. But that didn't seem to comfort his friend, as the snakes on his head indicated his distress. "Nah uh, Jackson…" Deuce said, holding him a little tighter as he talked to him. "Don't give up yet. Not over yet." He said, Cleo and Abbey hearing the dingy reach the dock and going down to get the others. "Come on Jackson. You're tougher than we all give you credit for. Don't give up." Deuce repeated in more of a whispered voice as the girls left him to drop the tough guy act as he held his injured friend. Jackson swallowed thickly before opening his mouth to say something, but Deuce shushed him.

"No, it's _okay_…" Jackson said with a smile, trying to get his friend to relax. His side was burning and his chest felt stiff from getting beat up again and probably bruising, but he knew that with the golem gone, the fever from the silver had been lifted and therefore the immediate danger to himself. But Deuce shook his head, looking alarmed. "That's _not_ okay Jackson. Don't close your eyes. Just…just keep breathing man." He said, sounding desperate. Jackson tried again to explain. "Ugh…Deuce…I'm really…" he said, trying to twist in the gorgon's tight hold and wincing at the movement to his sore body. "Hey, hey…deep breaths buddy." Deuce said, Jackson actually taking his advice to stop from seeing stars and passing out in his hold to really scare his friend.

"Deuce…." He started again, but when he opened his eyes, his voice cut off as he saw his soaked cousin in his line of sight. Heath getting in the pool and getting drenched was one thing, but his elemental cousin looked absolutely water-logged. He was at a loss for words at the sight, not sure if it was appropriate to laugh at his cousin so soon after he saved his life. He felt Deuce shaking him as he stared through half-lidded and tired eyes, Heath's face taking on a look of panic too. He eventually registered that Deuce was calling out to him when Heath waved a hand in front of his face a couple of times to see if he was able to follow his movements. Jackson blinked and Heath and Deuce let out a relieved sigh, the girls also looking less tense.

"Holy smokes…I thought you were gone! Staring off like that!" Heath said, shaking his head. "Don't do that!" Heath yelled, rubbing his face as he looked both irritated yet relieved. Jackson blinked again a couple of times to get himself aware again in time for Frankie to push Heath aside and dump some pouch of yellow powder onto him. Jackson tensed, clenching his eyes shut and arching his back as it hit his open wounds and the chemical burns from the last thing the golem had hit him with as he sent him flying, twisting in Deuce's hold to bury his face in his friend's vest before collapsing with a few gasping breaths.

"Frankie, what did that do?!" Cleo asked, Frankie looking at Jackson with wide eyes. "I saw Midas use this yellow stuff a few times when he healed a few scrapes. I mean, he was able to use it by just waving his cape over the cut, but it was definitely this mix." She explained, easing Jackson back onto his back with the help of Deuce. They watched in amazement at how the burns on Jackson's chest seemed to diminish, assuming that the injury from where the bullet had clipped his side was also healing somewhat too.

Frankie made to put more on Jackson, but Cleo stopped her as she caught her hands gently. "I don't think that's such a good idea just yet Frankie." She said in her more typical tone. Frankie looked at her in disbelief, making to protest but Cleo continued. "Healing spells and potions need to be done in increments or the body goes into shock. Unless you use the right amount the first time to heal everything at once, then small doses like any other medicine need to be applied." She said, an authoritative tone to her voice that left no room for argument. Deuce nodded along with his girlfriend, his mother having said something similar to him enough times for him to have actually remembered it by now. Frankie sighed, but her face brightened as Jackson opened his eyes and looked at them. "Oh Jackson…I'm so happy you're still here." She said, tears of happiness shining in her eyes as she grasped his hand within hers.

Jackson smiled at her, turning to look at Heath and not being able to keep his laughter in. Heath looked insulted, but relieved at the same time. "This is the thanks I get. Wow Jackson…Abbey, baby, back me up here." Heath said, turning to his girlfriend who only shook her head in amusement of her boyfriend. Jackson took a deep breath as he stopped laughing, awkwardly patting Heath on the hand as he tried to move in Deuce's hold. "Deuce…I was trying to tell you that with the golem dead, I was doing much better…" Jackson said as he looked to his friend. Deuce looked incredulously at his friend. "You let me believe you were dying?" he asked his friend, unable to keep angry for too long as he gave a chuckle. "You jerk." He said, Jackson wincing at the soft jab to his shoulder.

"Hey, that was all you." Jackson said, looking like he was actually feeling much better than before Deuce had picked him up off the floor. "But it wasn't like I was getting laughs out of it either Deuce. I'm still with an open wound here." He said, gesturing to his wrapped torso. "But you should use the rest of that stuff on your own injuries guys." He said, Cleo starting to do just that. They could hear sirens closer to them now, the sounds of voices approaching signaling that the police had finally followed them after finding Deuce's car.

"Here comes the cavalry. Geez…" Heath muttered sarcastically, standing up again once sure that Jackson wasn't beyond the usual banged up state Holt could get them into. He shook his head to try and get rid of the last of the water droplets that stuck to him before giving up and simply trying to dry himself. Steam poured off of him as he wrung his wet shirt, Abbey laughing at the sight the wet fire elemental made. "Oh, ha ha…fire elementals aren't meant to be so drenched. I don't mind a nice swim now and then but this is ridiculous…" Heath said, looking irritated. Abbey smiled as it seemed her boyfriend was more like his usual self, but refrained from touching him in case she accidentally froze the water that still was on him. Although it seemed like some ice wouldn't be such a bad thing for the bruise on the side of head.

Gil had been hugging Lagoona to him while they'd been gathered around Jackson, unable to keep himself from touching her to comfort both her and himself, both of them still on edge at how close Midas had come to taking all the girls with him to wherever he'd planned on imprisoning them. He hadn't had the chance to look over his girlfriend to assure himself of his girlfriend's safety, but her quick involvement in chasing after Frankie with him was enough to keep him pushing forward. Now, with the police finding them, he allowed himself to hold her close, Lagoona holding tightly to him as well and leaning her head on his shoulder. Deuce seemed a little reluctant to let go of Jackson, said boy sitting up more on his own and just leaning on his friend. Cleo kneeled beside her boyfriend, keeping a hand on his shoulder as she sought the same comfort that Gil and Lagoona were giving to each other.

"Heath…sorry about, you know…the way I sounded on the phone earlier." Jackson said as Heath continued to dry himself out as quickly as he could and not ignite his clothes. He too had his hand wrapped around Frankie's while Abbey helped to get the rest of the gross substance off of her friend. Frankie looked to him curiously, looking as though almost afraid to touch him. Heath looked back over at his cousin as the police officers spotted them and began to assess what had happened, some wood still smoking out on the water.

"Yeah…no…you don't get out of that so easily." Heath said, ruffling his jacket to get the stiffness from being rapidly steam dried by him to soften it up. "That was _not_ cool…" he said, looking directly at his cousin and pointing to him to emphasize his point.

"He's right. I mean, we get that it was probably a good thing you were here in time to stall the golem…"Deuce said, "…but you have to stop with the whole disregard for yourself. _Both_ sides of you." He said, Frankie nodding in agreement while Jackson looked ready to protest. But he decided against it as he was lifted up by one of the medics, finding it much easier to move around than the last time he'd tried that on his own while making a run for it from Deuce's house. He waved off their concern, having become accustomed to the damage Holt could create for the both of them and practically pleading not to have to go to the hospital again.

"Jackson, please let them look after you." Frankie pleaded with him, earning a defeated sigh from her boyfriend as he realized he'd likely have to at least get attention from the emergency medics. "Please. After everything that's happened…I feel so responsible for everything." She said, Jackson reaching out to grab her hand to get her to look back at him.

"That stuff you dumped on me from the pouch did most of the work. I'll be fine. I was fine before too. Like I keep saying, this is no more than the usual amount Holt causes." He said to reassure her, giving her a smile. She looked at him through teary eyes, smiling sorrowfully at him before pulling away so that the medics could undo the various bandages that had been wrapped around him. "But are _you_ okay?" he asked, now that it seemed he was able to finally ask his major concern. Frankie gave a silent shrug, eyes downcast in a saddened state, not feeling as though she should be so unscathed when it seemed that her friends had all suffered so much. Jackson looked like he wanted to push the matter, eyeing the gray gunk that still clung to her skin in areas that Abbey was still trying to help her get off, but the sound of his mother's voice caused his eyes to widen in alarm. He tensed up enough that the medic who had been taking his vitals looked up at his face to see what was wrong, but relaxed when he saw his patient groaning at the arrival of the two women who joined the group.

"Oh no…" Jackson said, "Mom's gonna kill me." He said, the medic chuckling at Jackson's fear of being scolded. He patted him on the shoulder gently as Mrs. Jekyll came up to her son's side, nearly shoving the other man out of the way to look over her son. As he tried to placate his mother and failing miserably, Medusa approached her son and pulled him into a tight hug. Cleo awkwardly tried to back away slowly to give them some room, but one of Medusa's snakes coiled around her wrist and she was pulled into the hug for a moment too before being released. "How are you guys? Anyone else hurt?" she asked as she looked over her own son. Deuce shook his head, Cleo timidly making a negative sound as she tried to be polite around her boyfriend's mother. Lagoona had dragged Gil over to one of the medics to it seemed, but with his tank back on, it looked like the medic was struggling with how to check on their friend.

"No, seriously, I'm okay mom." Jackson said, trying to keep his mother from touching any of his bruises or cuts, especially as she tried to unravel the bandages herself. Unfortunately, he wasn't completely right about that though, immediately grimacing as he moved too much for his side.

"You going to keep arguing with me or are you going to listen to me?" Mrs. Jekyll said, a sharp tone to her voice. Jackson shook his head, looking abashed at his mother's tone. The fire elemental sighed as she looked at her son. "What is it with you and hospitals? You are as bad as your father…" she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

"Well, what do you expect?" Jackson retorted but flinched and looked away as his mother looked unamused. "What? It's true…" he said, looking to Heath for some sort of backup but he was talking with Gil and Lagoona about the sunken golem statue to the police. He could overhear that they were considering sending divers out to recover so that it didn't have the potential to become a part of any future monster or human disasters.

"Jackson Jekyll, you may have inherited your father's Hyde side but Medusa told me it was _you_ who continued to run around after being shot at." Jackson's mother scolded.

"I'm not the one who got into a gunfight…" Jackson tried to feebly counter, both of them knowing how ridiculous that sounded. Holt may have been the dominant personality at the time, but being the same person meant that Jackson was well aware of how he too was just as involved. "Okay, but it was _Holt_ out at the time." He said. "I had to get over here to save Frankie and the others." He said, his mother's look slightly softening at her son's explanation.

"If he hadn't come when he did, we might not be here in this realm anymore." Frankie said in Jackson's defense. "He…Holt tore the armor off the golem and made it so Heath and the others could defeat it without its magical defenses." She said. "You didn't have to get hit again though…" she said through tearing eyes. Mrs. Jekyll whipped her head back to look at her son, alarmed at that last piece of information. "Oh, you are lucky young man that it wasn't your father who got the call from Medusa…" she said, running her hands over the marks on his chest where it was obvious he'd been struck with something but had healed.

"I dunno…" Jackson mumbled but gave his mother a wide smile as she level a look at him, Heath finally coming over to stand near his cousin and laughing at his predicament. Mrs. Jekyll looked over to Frankie for more information. "Oh, the golem had this healing mix in the bag of stolen magic from its last master. I used it on Jackson as soon as we got back to shore. He looked a lot worse than he was." Frankie rushed out, looking to still be in shock herself. Jackson noted that she hadn't called the golem by the name she'd given it, reasoning that she was trying to distance herself by not even using the name or by calling the golem a 'he'. Mrs. Jekyll nodded, thanking Frankie and returning to holding onto her son and allowing the medic to pull back the last of the wrappings Medusa had put on him, some of which stuck to him. Jackson hissed in pain as the gauze was removed and the medic started to clean the wound again. "I thought it might have gotten a little worse." Medusa said from where she stood over the medic to see Jackson, startling the man. The gorgon laughed, making sure to keep her eyes covered so that he wouldn't trigger her to turn him to stone.

"But it feels better…" Jackson muttered, the others not sure whether or not he was truthful about that or trying to convince his mother not to bring him to the hospital again. "Well, it's not infected, but it's still _tender _from the repeated hits you…Holt, must have taken." Medusa said, making Jackson feel a little on edge from how she described his injury.

"That's it. Hospital. Now." Mrs. Jekyll said, earning a groan from Jackson. "No. The doctors there can make sure it's closed and cleaned, along with everything else you've put yourself through." She said. "Stop acting so glum. I'm sure the usual nurses you meet there are on call today. And your friends are there too from what I hear." She said as the medics began to prepare the stretcher to carry Jackson back to the ambulance on.

"Ugh…that's the point mom. I shouldn't have to go there as often as you make me." He complained. "They know me and dad _too_ well." He said. His mother sighed and shook her head. "That's for sure. But yours and your father's Hyde side make everyone else's version of normalcy a little more difficult for us to have…and you both need to keep track of your injuries, especially since you and Holt sometimes hide them from each other. That's stupid Jackson and you know it…" she ranted as Jackson leaned back in defeat onto the stretcher and was carried away, leaving the others back on the wharf to watch the spectacle that came from their friend's family. "Heath, you're coming too!" Mrs. Jekyll shouted back over to them, causing him to wince and look to Abbey for help, but the yeti shook her head and pointed for him to follow his aunt.

"Aw, come on…she can be just as scary as my uncle can get…and I don't want to have to go through that with my parents too" he complained, Abbey walking over to push him to follow. "Yes, but have large purple bruise on side of face Abbey not like either. I come too – make big, tough boy feel safe about this…" she teased, but Heath sighed and smiled to his girlfriend, offering her his arm to hold which she eagerly took. The yeti seemed least outwardly traumatized than the others, but even she wasn't above seeking the comfort of being near her boyfriend.

The others lingered a little longer, having their own injuries tended to and answering a few more questions from police before Medusa offered to give rides home to Gil and Lagoona in her recovered car, allowing Deuce to take his time in bringing Cleo back to her house. They all couldn't seem to leave the area behind quick enough, the waters calm again as though nothing had ever happened.

* * *

Jackson had ended up spending some brief time at the hospital with Clawdeen and Draculaura, but it turned out that Midas hadn't done any damage to the girls that hadn't been rectified within a couple of days. As it was the weekend when they were released, they opted to just spend the day relaxing at Cleo's house rather than go out. But given all that had happened, they all wanted to be close, the others worried about Frankie's more despondent mood.

"Frankie, are you sure you're okay?" Cleo asked, placing a hand comfortingly on her shoulder to get her friend to face her. Frankie looked at Cleo with wide eyes before shaking her head and pulling Cleo to her in a large hug. "I'm sorry Frankie. I should've done more to help disconnect the golem from you. But I thought there was no harm in letting him dote on you for a little while…" Cleo said. The mummy had been the one to warn her about possible defects, but she hadn't pushed her to figure them out or solve them either. Frankie sniffled a few times before pulling away to look at her friend. "No, Cleo…I just didn't want to see how much Midas wasn't what I had wanted him to be. I thought he was just still learning and actually becoming his own person – Rochelle said that sometimes golems can do that. He even said he loved me." Frankie whispered, looking down. "But it was nothing more than an outer covering, shiny and handsome but nothing but a part of his…obsession…"she said.

"Obsession and love can be tricky things." A southern voice interrupted, causing the girls to turn in their surprise to see Operetta walking into the room. "Sorry to just drop by like this. I wasn't intendin' on interruptin' or eavesdropping, I was just trying to return this." She said, holding out one of Deuce's notebooks to her. "He was asking for some advice the other day about how to try cheerin' up Holt and left it behind. I'm not too sure of his address but I knew yours. Figured you'd give it to him next you saw him if he needed it." She said, shrugging before turning to Frankie.

"What I said is true though. My daddy got himself into a bit of trouble goin' overboard with that…" she said, understating the phantom of the opera's attempts to win his girl. "Daddy did better once he learned that sometimes…there can be too much of a good thing and you need to see past the good intentions or well-wishing and look at what's happening to the ones you claim to care about. He let his first, _really_ intense crush go with the guy she actually liked and he became a better phantom for it. Met my mom and here I am…" Operetta trailed off, giving a smile to Frankie as she gestured to herself. "Frankie, you meant well but a golem is only meant to literally _obsess_ over its master's safety and to serve its master as ordered. Your Midas took the next step toward becoming his own being, but couldn't go much farther than that. Maybe with more time he could've become a real person, but getting' there by doin' what he did wasn't going to make him become a good monster. You let him go doing what he apparently only wanted to do – he served you until his end. You cared for him and gave him a chance – that's all you could've done and nothing more." She said as she sat by the morose girl, Frankie looking up at her friend.

Frankie sniffled and nodded her head. "Thanks Operetta. You're right…I just, wished things could've been different. Maybe, created another golem for him to life with and maybe come to love too so he wasn't alone." Frankie said. Operetta shrugged at her response. "Maybe if the divers fish him outta the water then you can find a way to revive him with a proper golem incantation and he can do all those things. Possibilities Frankie – keep moving forward but don't forget." The phantom said, standing up as she gave her goodbyes, apologizing for having to leave so soon. Once she had left, it seemed like the girls were back to being on edge around Frankie, but more confident in approaching a conversation with her.

"Wait…why does Holt need cheering up?" Clawdeen asked, leaning up against the side of the couch as she reclined, still not completely recovered but looking more herself than before. Frankie looked back down and held herself. "Frankie….come on ghoul. I forgave everything that happened. So did Draculaura, Heath, Gil…." She said, trailing off as she implied the rest of the group too.

"I know. But ever since I decided to get together again with Jackson and Holt, he just seems to get into all sorts of trouble. He always said he had a boring life so it must be me somehow…" she said, eyes watering over how high maintenance their relationship seemed to be. "I texted him yesterday after school…I couldn't find the courage to talk to him face to face or call him and I know that's the worst way to do this…but I ended things with him" she rushed out, the girls gasping.

"Frankie. After everything he went through to get you back?" Draculaura asked, hand up by her mouth in surprise. "He's devoted to you. Not like Midas or anything but you know what I mean…"she rambled, "Frankie, why would you do that when you love him too? You have to talk to him!" she said. But Frankie shook her head, although not appearing very confident.

"No. I can't face him. Just like Operetta said – I'm letting him go so that he can be safe and happy." Frankie said. "I'll still love him, but this way, he can do whatever he wants and I won't get him into any trouble." She said, swallowing thickly around the tears that threatened to fall.

"Frankie. That's incredibly sweet of you, but I doubt he'll see it that way." Lagoona said, looking to Abbey or Cleo to back her up. Abbey nodded, "And avoiding him not good plan. Have to see him at school Monday anyway." She reasoned.

"Frankie. He's gone through a lot to prove he wants to be with you. Pushing him aside out of some notion that you're too dangerous for him or he'll be better off without you, without actually talking things through with him, will only hurt the both of you." Cleo said, trying to urge Franke up to go out and meet with him. "And Holt isn't exactly known for being the most level-headed when dealing with news he doesn't like. Did you even talk to Jackson at all when he was in the hospital, or with Holt since that nasty fight?" she asked, looking aside as she made a face of irritation. "I can't believe I missed it." She muttered, gaining a small laugh from Frankie. "Hard to believe you'd be left out of the loop. I think everybody _heard_ it even if they didn't see it. Headmistress Bloodgood was very understanding in not giving Holt any punishment…she was much better than I was to him." Frankie said, reverting to her anxious state. "I can't face either Jackson or Holt. I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from begging him to take me back." She said, Cleo rolling her eyes as she walked Frankie to the front door. "Just talk to him. No planned speeches or anything. Just…be yourself." She said, Frankie sighing but realizing her friends were right. She took a deep breath and walked out the front door with the wishes of good luck resounding behind her. She took longer in walking to her boyfriend's house, going against Cleo's advice and preparing how she might respond to the worst possible scenarios.

She knocked on the door and braced herself for either Jackson or Holt, not sure which version of him she would rather face and dreading having to deal with his parents too. But she was surprised when Heath answered the door. "Oh, hey Frankie…um…maybe now isn't a good time. But you're here to put things right again, aren't you?" he asked, pulling Frankie inside despite his words. She waved to Deuce and Gil sitting on the couch before flinching as a loud banging from upstairs and Clawd's shout of annoyance alerted her that it must be Holt out and not dealing with things very well. "Holt, you are going to aggravate that side of yours. I'm not gonna be the one tell your mom what you did." Clawd was heard threatening, before storming down the stairs. Spotting Frankie he gave a heavy sigh. "Thank God you're here." He said, pulling her in much the same manner Heath did toward the stairs, Frankie feeling as though a ragdoll being tossed around and feeling the stitches in her right hand loosening up. "You gotta talk to him now, before he burns the house down or something." The werewolf said. "But be careful…Jackson deleted your text to him about breaking up and Holt just found it. Went through his history to make space on his phone for more music and found it in back files or somethin'."Clawd said, shooting Frankie a look that let her know his opinion of her method of break up, nor the fact that she would end things so soon after what happened.

"Heath called us all here to try and handle him before his parents get back, but Holt's not going to listen." Gil said from where he sat on the couch. "We decided to see if he'd come to us, except Clawd got a little too optimistic even compared to Heath….But now that you're here, we're gonna head out and give you two some privacy." He said, Deuce standing up alongside him with a tight smile to Frankie before the two of them left with Clawd. Frankie turned to Heath who looked a little nervous. "Call me when he's calmed down, okay? His parents didn't want to leave him alone. They had to run out for something but they should be back in an hour, tops." He said. "I...uh…I guess I'll just head home then." He said, nodding once before abruptly leaving her to talk with Holt.

Frankie suddenly felt like she should have called after Heath to keep him nearby, nervous and a little frightened at what might happen. She made her way tentatively up the stairs, pausing outside of Holt's room and giving a hesitant knock to his door. She heard the rumblings in his room pause before hearing Holt's laugh, lacking the usual mirth. "This is a new trick. You think bein' all _polite_ is gonna make me…" he growled, flinging the door open to continue arguing with what he expected to be one of the guys and stopping mid-sentence as he saw who it was standing there. Frankie gave him a small smile, hoping that she might see Holt's face brighten the way it usually did when he saw her. But Holt clenched his jaw to keep from saying anything, looking away from Frankie and walking away. Considering that he didn't slam the door in her face, Frankie took that as a good sign and slowly followed over to where he flung himself on the bed. "Nice of you to drop on by. Come to make sure Jackson passed the message along?" he sneered, refusing to look at her. Frankie's breath caught at the tone in his voice, taking a deep breath to keep herself together.

"Okay…I deserved that. But I was actually hoping to talk to you…to apologize for how I blamed you for that fight with the golem." She said, waiting for Holt to look up at her, unsettled by how his flaming hair cast an ironic shadow of fire across his face that made him look both brooding like Jackson yet mysterious like himself. But he continued to hide behind his hair and she wrung her hands even tighter to keep herself from running away from this conversation. "I'm glad you're feeling better. And you got your jacket back…. And I really appreciate all you went through for me..." She began but paused when Holt gave a humorless laugh. "You have a funny way of showing it Miss Fine…sorry, _Frankie_. Guess you don't want me to call you that sort of thing anymore." He said, standing up to brush past her as he leaned to look out the window. "Just go Frankie. I…we tried everything, Jackson and I, to keep you safe and got banged up enough for it, so I ain't in the mood to add insult to injury, literally. I'll demand my answers from you later, you can count on it." He said, Frankie not doubting how fierce Holt might be once he decided on just how he was going to confront her, but she did wonder why he seemed to not be bursting with those demands now. Frankie reached out to him, but he jerked away from her. "I don't understand Frankie…why? I fought for you, I came back for you…Jackson knew we weren't at the top of our game but I had to go after you. So why? Why'd you blame _me_ for that fight anyway?" he asked when it seemed she wasn't going to just leave him alone.

"Holt, I'm sorry. I was trying to make Midas into something he wasn't and I don't want to put you through anything else." Frankie said, taken by surprise when Holt finally looked at her with watery eyes. Whether from anger or grief at being dumped by his girlfriend she didn't know, but his look was more intense and emotional than she could have ever expected from the golem.

"What? You think I couldn't handle that?" Holt said, hair flaming up. "Was your golem better at certain things that I just can't seem to compare to?" he sarcastically asked, Frankie backing away as his anger came to the forefront. She'd seen her boyfriend's Hyde side get frighteningly angry several times, but only a couple outbursts were ever directed at her and never quite so forceful. "I ain't sure what I'm missin' here Frankie. And you had to go the coward's way to tell me you wanted out after everything that's happened, everything we've gone through – you who tells everyone that they can be strong and they can do anything if they use that strength…" he ranted, emphasizing his own strength as he toppled one of Jackson's smaller bookcases onto the floor with a loud bang that caused Frankie to jump. "I didn't think you could be like that. Not…not with me." He said, losing the fire in his voice and in his hair as he sat glaring back at her. "Answer me Frankie!" he demanded. "Answer me! I deserve some…"

"I don't want to see you get hurt again!" Frankie said, shouting back at him. "Since we've been together, all you seem to do is get hurt. I never saw that happen before. It must be me causing you to be in so much danger with everything I get into…or…or…the way I do something that sets you up…" Frankie rambled, but looked up timidly from the spot on the floor she'd been focusing on to avoid Holt's glare when she heard genuine laughs coming from him.

"Frankie…what makes you think I haven't gotten myself and Jackson into all sorts of messes? Believe me ghoul…" Holt said, looking more softly at her, "…I can create those on my own just fine. Just 'cuz you ain't been around to see 'em, don't mean they haven't been happening. Neither you nor Monster High has been _excessively_ bad for our health." Holt said. Frankie looked incredulously at him, not sure if he was over-exaggerating to her again as he'd been known to do in order to make her do something he wanted them to do. Jackson had told her a few stories from when he was younger about finding himself with particularly nasty surprises that had only made sense to him recently with Holt's discovery, but she wasn't sure just how much that had been happening. Even when they'd first met, Jackson had only mentioned first the irritation he had at waking up in back alleys with no idea of how he got there, fighting to come up with the courage to call one of his parents to come pick him up after it had happened again.

"Us Hydes can't help gettin' a little carried away now and then when the mood suits us. I think you might have gotten a taste of that once or twice…been happening for as long as I can remember. Probably has something to do with not being able to control when _we_ get to play. I'm sure mom will tell you all about how dad still gets into some trouble, but nothing like when he was my age." Holt said, Frankie looking as though reaching some sort of revelation.

"So…you've always been difficult?" she asked, Holt's eyes widening in humor. "I didn't mean it like that, um, I mean, complicated? No, no, I mean…" Frankie stammered, but Holt laughed again to end her ramblings.

"Yeah…I'm both complicated _and_ difficult. But I'm getting better at not doing some _really_ stupid things and lettin' Jackson know when it's been particularly bad…mostly…" he trailed off at Frankie's look of disbelief. "Hey, I am! Not my fault some people think my ideas fall into that category of really stupid things to do. But imagine how I could be if I _wasn'_t tryin'." He said, Frankie rolling her eyes but still thinking about how much more wilder Holt could end up becoming if Jackson didn't try to rein him in more and convince him of a good reason to maintain his temper.

"Oh, Holt…" Frankie said, launching herself at him to wrap her arms around him, taking him by surprise and causing him to lose his footing. He wrapped his arms around her as he tried to keep upright, stepping on tossed books and ending up falling with her onto his bed. He grimaced in pain as his side still was healing, although with him being out it was healing much faster than Jackson's system would have allowed it to heal when he was dominant. "Sorry!" Frankie said, but Holt shook his head at her movements to get up. He shifted a little from where they'd fallen, allowing himself and Frankie to readjust and lay on the bed.

"Holt…I didn't want to leave you, I just wanted to do for you what you did for me and do anything to keep you safe. Especially after how much trouble I put you through." Frankie said, snuggling into him. Holt laughed and pulled her close. "I get it. Makes no sense, but I can see where you were goin'. Did you really think I'd give up on you so easily though?" Holt laughed to her, Frankie smiling. "Jackson's not gonna be pleased you told me first. Then again, it wasn't him out to deal with the bullets and sword and that god-awful language he kept spoutin'" Holt said, earning more laughs from Frankie.

"The golem was from the Middle Ages. That's how he talked. All the girls found it kind of charming." She said, realizing that wasn't the smartest thing she could say at the moment as Holt held her more possessively. But she found that as much as Holt could be possessive, it wasn't as cold or terrifying as when the golem told her she was to belong to him. Holt let her be her, so long as he could be there beside her for as long as he could. And Jackson had kept the news away from Holt finding out too soon to storm after her and possibly create a worse situation through some accident, continuing to look after her even as he thought things had ended. "But you've got your own style that I find just as thrilling and definitely one that I can jam to." She said, looking up to him. He smiled at her before leaning down to kiss her. "But I should tell Jackson soon too Holt." She mumbled as they broke off their kiss.

Holt sighed in irritation but Frankie's look had him reconsider. "Alright…" he said, "…but in a few minutes." He said, taking Frankie by surprise when he kissed her again. She returned it with as much fervor as him, not willing to let go for fear that he might change his mind and consider her too much trouble after all she put him through. Once they did break away, breathless, she rested her head on his chest while they relaxed. "If you're still worried, Frankie, you can relax now." Holt said while he stoked her back comfortingly. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his chest, keeping his hand over hers. "In case you couldn't tell, I still want you as my girlfriend. You may be as difficult and complicated as me or any other monster, but I do love you." He said, resting her hand over his heart. Frankie pressed her hand flat against his chest as she felt his heartbeat, closing her eyes and feeling the warmth from his hold on her.

"I'm sorry I keep hurting you." She said. Holt sighed and had her look at him. "Stop apologizin'. I told ya this ain't your doin'. I get myself into these situations on my own with nobody but me – and Jackson – to blame. You didn't give me this cut on my side" He said. Frankie laughed a little at how he tossed in his other half, who no doubt would argue vehemently that he had nothing to do with the situations Holt could and sometimes did create.

"It was hardly just a cut, Holt." She mumbled, but it seemed that being grazed was all that had happened to him, the injury looking worse than it was when she had seen it. Although if Holt wasn't lying to her, she had no doubt that by now it really was nothing more than a deep cut that probably didn't even need stitches. She hoped that his enhanced healing abilities would make it so that there was no visible scar when he was either version of himself. "But that's not what I was talking about." Frankie said, fisting Holt's shirt in her hand to get him to realize she meant his heart. "I've been horrible to you. I told you I would wait for you and then I made you wait forever. I jump to the worst conclusions when I should trust you more. And I blame you without even giving you a chance." She murmured into his shirt, doing her best to stop any tears, feeling as though that would only make her look even more pathetic.

"Frankie…that's just how things are. You're the most caring and understanding and patient person I know, but even you are gonna get all tied up now and then. I should know…" Holt said, his voice sounding full of encouragement. She just sighed and nodded, not looking completely convinced but Holt didn't press things further. "Okay…I'd really rather just lay here with you, but mom will not be pleased if I don't take the medicine she thinks I need to take. Dad and I tell her that when we get to this point it ain't necessary, but she won't hear it." Holt said, Frankie sitting up to allow him room to get up. Frankie shook her head as she watched him look around his mess of a room. "She worries about you Holt. You and your father are, well, more prone to breaking." She said, Holt shooting her an offended look. "You said it yourself." Frankie countered what was sure to be a protest on behalf of maintaining his ego, Holt resembling his cousin at the moment when Abbey would tell him to not overdo things. Frankie thought perhaps it was a fire elemental thing, thinking they could just blaze straight through everything.

"Oh, man…I left them in the kitchen. Wait here, I'll be right back." Holt said, motioning for Frankie to stay seated. She was going to argue with him over letting him rest but figured that wasn't what he wanted to hear and with them just rehashing things, she thought she could try and give him some more space to handle things his own way. She didn't think he could hurt himself just walking down the stairs, but she was still a little anxious, although she thought that probably will always be the case for those she cared about. Frankie leaned back on the bed, wondering what could possibly be taking him so long to get a glass of water and take a couple of pills, but wasn't about to rush her boyfriend. She heard another loud bang downstairs from what she assumed was the cabinet, guessing Holt wasn't being too gentle with anything. But it startled her enough to pull herself upright fast enough that she left her right hand attached to the blanket. She made to grab it and put it back but, as was typical, nothing was easy and she found herself chasing after it under the bed. "Oh, come on…" she muttered as she extended her other arm as far as she could reach to grab her hand. She heard Holt racing up the steps, sounding as though he was in a blind panic.

"Frankie!" she heard a voice shout, but it was Jackson's and not Holt's voice. She let her head drop to the floor in her embarrassment, but succeeding in grabbing her hand. "Oh my God! Frankie! What did Holt…oh my God!" she heard Jackson ramble as he took in what his alter ego had done. She reattached her hand and was about to finally move from her spot partially under the bed when she felt Jackson grab her around the waist and slide her out from under the bed. He was a little less gentle than his typical self, but as he turned her over to look at him, she could see the panic turn to relief in his eyes. "Oh, thank goodness." He breathed out as he held Frankie close to him. Frankie returned the embrace, but looked at Jackson in complete confusion. "Holt left me a nasty message about how he found out about what I was hiding. Said he made sure to do something to remind me not to do that to him." he said. "I saw the mess downstairs, and I knew he wasn't going to handle our breakup too well if it was just thrust at him without me finding a way to tell him gently…I saw my room and saw you lying on the floor…I know he still loves you too but I wouldn't put it past him to lash out." Jackson said, holding her close.

"Oh…oh, I'm sorry. I just…" Jackson said as he realized how closely he was holding her to him, breaking away and allowing her to stand on her own. Frankie smiled and held onto his hand as he pulled away. "I know you don't want to be together anymore, but I do care about you Frankie. Why did you come here?" he asked. Frankie found it even more difficult to have to look at Jackson than when she had forced herself to face Holt. Holt had been all unbridled fury and passion, but Jackson left her feeling numb with the emotions swirling in his eyes as he looked at her with love and compassion, caring enough to restrain himself to respect her wishes. She knew he wasn't one to just completely roll over and give up, but as Jackson, he wasn't quite so outgoing with what he had to say. "Jackson. It's okay." Frankie said, pulling him back over to her. "I talked with Holt. He wasn't pleased to see me at first…" she said, looking over the mess in Jackson's room, "…but we came to an understanding. And we both understand that we don't want…"

"I know, I know…you don't want to be with me anymore. I got the point loud and clear when that's all you wrote in that text." Jackson said, sounding bitter. "I don't understand why but clearly I didn't do enough to help you the last time something spectacularly monstrous happened. I tried Frankie, I did, but I can only do so much." Jackson said, running a hand across his face as he talked with her. "I know I'm not a full monster like all those other guys, and I'm not fully human either…but I…I'll respect your choice to want to find someone better suited to understanding and caring for you. But it's going to be really tough for a while. Holt's not going to let me forget this anytime soon. I'm sure he'll blame me again and we'll go on another bender of all-nighter parties and fist-fights. Nothing we haven't done before." Jackson said, smiling humorlessly as he paced in his room, overlooking Frankie's attempts to interrupt.

Frankie huffed in frustration at how brooding Jackson could be, resorting to sending a small jolt his way to get him to pay attention. "Jackson. Holt and I decided that we don't want to break up." She said, watching as Jackson paused in rubbing his arm where the shock had hit him. Instead of the happy smile she'd seen Holt give her once he understood her rationale, Jackson looked even more betrayed. "Frankie. You can't…it's not possible for you to date him _and_ d-dump me…eventually I'm gonna end up ruining the party for you accidentally and things are just gonna spiral out of control like when we first met and I…" he began to ramble. Frankie waved her arms to get him to stop, stepping over some items on the floor to keep Jackson still. "I know that Jackson. But Holt was out first so I explained to _him_ first why I thought I needed to keep my distance. I'm still your girlfriend…if you'll still put up with my overly dramatic girly stuff." She said, suddenly racked with the terror that he might not be willing to continue this yo-yo of a relationship that put even Cleo and Deuce's relationship woes to shame.

She started to fidget when Jackson continued to stand there just looking at her in confusion. "Jackson…I was worried that I was the…the…the determining factor in all the times you'd get hurt." She said, attempting to explain in a way that he might find both understanding and amusing so as to get him to say something. "Holt told me that Jekylls and Hydes just have a history of getting into tough scrapes with being dual-natured. We're going to have to work on that too – that's not a good enough excuse." Frankie said, shifting into a more authoritative tone as she gazed at Jackson. But Jackson seemed overwhelmed. "So…you _don't_ want to break up with me again?" he asked. Frankie shook her head no, hoping that Jackson would follow what she was trying to convey. "Frankie…." He said, throwing his hands up in the air. "You gotta stop doing this to me. I don't understand what you're going on about but this back and forth thing…I can't seem to keep up" he said, gesturing with his hands. Frankie began to tear up, fearing that her nightmarish expectations were coming to pass. Holt may have been the half to just act on whatever feelings he and Jackson had, but Jackson often thought too much about some things before acting. She thought that maybe he had decided that she wasn't going to be good for him with his already fractured nature.

"Frankie, please, just tell me what it is that I do that makes you constantly doubt me. I'll try and fix it as best I can, you know that. Please don't play that game where I'm supposed to know what I'm doing wrong or haven't done and me not knowing makes it more horrible for you…just tell me." Jackson pleaded, grabbing her hands in his. "No, Jackson it wasn't you, it was me. I know that sounds like a horrible cliché but really, I was the one who thought that because I never see you get into trouble or get hurt on your own that I must be the one causing it and should leave you alone." She said, shaking her head as she tried again to elaborate her backward reasoning. "I thought it was all part of that, 'If you love something, set it free' thing, but I didn't do such a good job of staying away." She laughed through the tears she was losing the battle to keep contained. Jackson shook his head as he looked at her fondly. "So then, were you going to become a hermit and swear off Clawdeen and Draculaura and everyone else who was concerned about you too?" he asked her. Frankie sniffled but shook her head, not sure where he was going with his question. But rather than seem offended that she had decided to single him out, he gave her a soft smile and pulled her into a hug which she eagerly accepted as she practically melted in his arms. "Then I know you must think me special enough for you to do that to yourself just for me." He said, Frankie realizing that he was right.

She had made the unconscious effort to only keep away from him, not realizing that if what she thought about her situation with him was true, then it could be applied to all her friends. In that case, she was following the same thought pattern as the golem had when it had decided that she needed to be kept away in isolation so that nothing could harm her, only in reverse. She hugged Jackson tighter, him returning the affection and letting her cry a little to release all the stress she'd placed on herself. "You _are_ special to me Jackson." she said, Jackson rubbing her back comfortingly like he had as Holt. "And you are to me. Holt wouldn't duel for just _any_ girl you know." He kidded with her, guiding her over to sit on the bed next to him. Frankie continued to cling to him, not wanting to think about her boyfriend's injuries again.

"Oh…you should lie down." She said, pulling away as she realized that he had transformed while Holt had been complaining about his injury. Jackson looked at her curiously again. "Why?" he asked almost warily. Frankie rolled her eyes. "Relax Jackson. I'm not about to jump you." She said, earning a blush from her boyfriend and finding herself satisfied with being able to get closer to normal with him again. "Holt clearly went on another of his rampages and I don't know how bad that side of yours is right now. You should probably just rest for a bit." She said. Jackson sighed, likely having heard that several times from his mother since she practically dragged him off that wharf herself. "Frankieee….I'm fine. It's practically all healed up already. The bullet only clipped me." He said. Frankie shot a look of disbelief at him. "Did you hear yourself? 'The bullet only clipped you'. Nothing in that sentence is something to brush off. Or have you been shot at before?" she asked.

Jackson chuckled but lay back on his bed nonetheless to accommodate his girlfriend. "Well, there was that one time when I was maybe seven or eight and Holt apparently got it into his head to run amok at the resort we were staying at on vacation. It was more of a normie resort and people weren't reacting too well to a little blue, fire-haired boy popping up all over the place and setting things on fire or just breaking things as he made his own party. One of the security guards on the grounds took a shot at him, _me_, but my mother put him in his place soon enough. I'd say good thing it wasn't my dad but you've seen how my mother can get." Jackson said, motioning for Frankie to lie down beside him. "We weren't actually hit but Holt did tumble off the deck into the shrubbery and banged us up pretty good. I still can't believe I always believed my mother that I'd done all that to myself sleepwalking." He said, shaking his head at his own gullible nature. "But she and dad had agreed on waiting until I was old enough to fully understand the concept of a split personality as complex as the one Holt and I share. Something about allowing both him and I to develop without worrying about things like who was the 'real' one or the more deserving one. Not that it really helped all that much at the beginning when we first found out." He said, Frankie not sure how to respond to the fights she'd played intermediary to for a while before telling them they were going to 'pause' their relationship. "Oh well." Jackson said, sounding like he'd finally come to terms with the fact that he couldn't really do anything to change the past and had decided not to obsessively dwell on it.

Frankie tried to convince herself that if Jackson was able to remember his difficulties in his past and move on without harping on them, then she should try to listen to Operetta's advice. Frankie found herself just looking at Jackson as she laid beside him as he rested with his eyes closed. "You know, some people find the idea of others watching them while they sleep to be a little weird." He said in his typical humor, Frankie laughing.

"But you're not sleeping." She argued, Jackson tilting his head and opening his eyes to look at her, giving her a smirk. "But believe me. I know that from experience – Midas didn't really need to eat or sleep and just sat in the corner of my room and watched me." She said shivering as she recalled those nights. "I thought at first that it was cute that he was so attentive and fascinated with me, but there are such things as too much affection." She said, Jackson laughing at her sarcastic tone she used, despite knowing that it was likely her attempt to cope with everything. He knew she wanted to talk to him about all the things she went through with the golem by her side practically every hour of the days he was with her, but admired her for trying to be gentle with how she brought that topic up with him. "Did you find yourself liking him? Really liking him?" Jackson timidly asked, Frankie sighing and looking away. "No…well, there were times when I wasn't sure what to think. But he was never you." She said.

Jackson gave her a smile. "Nice save." He said, Frankie shoving him gently. "I'm being serious here. The least you could do is to try and not make me feel totally awful about…about my feelings for him." she said, choosing her words carefully. "I know Frankie…I know you cared for him. That's just how you are." Jackson said. Frankie nodded, "I tried to get him to be more open to learning about how to be, well, himself. I watched movies with him…" she began but Jackson winced. "Yeah…maybe you should've screened what you showed him. Holt said he'd decided to use a gun from something you showed him." Jackson said. Frankie gasped, looking even more guilty. "He'd have come across it elsewhere eventually Frankie. Don't worry about it. But you were telling me what else you did with him." Jackson rushed to say, encouraging her to move past that. Frankie swallowed but continued anyway despite obvious reservations. "Well, I read him some stories and some things from my magazines when he asked me if there was something of interest in them that he might procure based on how often I looked at them." She said. Jackson laughed and Frankie wondered what he might find so funny.

"Well that's what drove him mad. No man alive – or undead - can comprehend the stuff you girls take so seriously in those magazines. The reasoning's too convoluted and too much angst in all those teenage dramas." He teased as he repeated the lines she was sure all the girls heard from their guys, earning a genuine laugh out of Frankie who looked at him in gratitude for being so patient with her. He noticed the change come over her, and smiled at her when she leaned in to kiss him. Neither one of them noticed, so wrapped up in each other as they were, when the door opened and closed and footsteps approached the room.

"Holy smokes! Uh, sorry, sorry…I didn't see anything!" Heath said, attempting to back out of his cousin's room and igniting a bit of his door as he hastily covered his eyes. "Ugh! Heath!" Jackson whined, tossing a pillow at his cousin. "Sorry, sorry…I left my phone here and it was quiet. I got worried that Holt did something or you got all depressed again…." He said, using the pillow as a shield from the stuff within Jackson's reach that he began to toss at his cousin. "Stop! Jackson, stop. You're gonna pull at your side and make it take longer to heal." Frankie warned, Jackson sighing but listening to her. Heath looked out cautiously from his pillow shield, looking relieved to find his cousin and Frankie still clothed. "Oh good. I didn't interrupt anything…I know you can dance cuz' but I didn't think…" Heath began to tease him, giggling at the blush spreading across Jackson's and Frankie's face. "Heath. Out." Frankie said, pointing to the doorway. Heath laughed but walked out with a wave. Frankie shook her head before surprising Jackson by resuming their kiss. "Does this mean I can tell Abbey to stop worrying?" Heath said, peeking his head around the doorframe. "Heath!" Jackson growled as they quickly pulled apart, his cousin laughing at having caught them in that position again. "That's it! I'm gonna kill him!" Jackson said, rolling off the bed and causing Heath to take off down the hall to head back out. Frankie laughed as it seemed Jackson was alright, and things were getting back to normal. The bruise on the side of Heath's face had diminished significantly and all other reminders of how dark things became began to fade.

* * *

The girls had managed to find the time to keep Frankie busy enough to not dwell excessively on their horrific misadventure with the golem. The police had managed to pull the statue Heath had made out of the water, not content to let it sit there unguarded in case something else should come along and possibly revive Midas. Headmistress Bloodgood had claimed it from the station, determined to store it away from any potential dangers, the school apparently acting also as a repository for such items. The girls subsequently wondered why it was then that punishments involved students cleaning out the storage areas like the girls had done, getting themselves into that mess in the first place. But none of them wanted to bring that up with their headmistress right away, sure that things weren't about to change from the way that the school had been set up. The girls had been asked plenty of questions, Frankie right at the center of the continuing looks from those such as Torelai who'd gotten to experience first-hand the golem's overprotectiveness. But by the middle of the week, Jackson had asked Frankie to come along with him for a surprise he, Ghoulia and Cleo had set up for her. Frankie didn't seem all that confident about letting herself have some time to enjoy herself with things still fresh in their minds. But considering she'd dragged Jackson and Holt out to do these sorts of 'surprises' to cheer them up after their own intense misadventures, she clearly had resigned herself to try and keep up with her friends' ideas. However, she was curious once she realized that they planned on spending the afternoon back at the school.

"Jackson, what are we doing back here?" Frankie asked her boyfriend. "I thought you said you wanted to do something special?" she said, getting out of his car to look around, spotting her friends over by the athletic fields. Jackson nodded and wrapped an arm around her as he guided her towards her friends. She gasped when she saw the statue of Midas standing in the grass, looking with wide eyes to her friends for an explanation.

"Headmistress Bloodgood supervised mine and Ghoulia's actions with this, so don't worry about getting into trouble for bringing him out of storage." Cleo said, attempting to fend off the imminent panic attack from their friend. "Deuce talked with his mom about what possibly was used in the original golem story with Pygmalion, you know, to try and fix that obsessive component to the spell Midas' creator clearly put into his golem. That guy had some issues I guess with worrying about others trying to get to him or his magic." Cleo said, trailing off as she ranted, waving her arm in her typical dismissive fashion. Ghoulia elbowed her and gave a moan to get her back on track. "Oh, right…Ghoulia contacted that wizard school that played against the casketball team that one time. They gave a few suggestions and, well, Jackson did his part too with his research to put everything together." She said. Frankie turned to look in awe at her boyfriend, who had yet again done something for her even after all that the golem had put him through. He smiled back at her and held her tighter.

"I know how much you thought of him as similar to what you were like. And I know that on some level, you're afraid that you had the potential to become like that too. Your friends and I will tell you that's crazy until our voices are gone, but I think you're still not going to fully believe us." Jackson said as though he could read Frankie's mind. For all she knew, Scarah had picked up on those thoughts at some point and shared them with one of her friends so that they all knew by now. Seeing Frankie looking a little sheepish at having been so easily read, Jackson continued with his explanation. "So I thought that given the opportunity, we could attempt to revive him like Operetta suggested. But this time, we'll use a regular…if there is such a thing as a regular spell…to wake him up. Cleo's prepared to do it and he should wake up with all the previous memories he had, but not so…obsessive." Jackson said.

Cleo nodded to her dubious friend, Ghoulia giving out another moan. "Oh…but I don't know what to use as the summoning object." Frankie said in response to her zombie friend's question. "The bell melted when Heath torched the inscription that animated Midas. I don't think I have anything on hand to use…" Frankie said, panic in her eyes. "It doesn't have to be a bell again, does it?" she asked.

Cleo shook her head while Jackson rubbed Frankie's arm as he held her close in an attempt to calm her. "No, the summoning device can be anything. Jackson thinks it was a bell last time because Midas' creator used a symbol of servitude just to be an arrogant…well, you get the picture. The silver on it was just the last bits of the armor he'd made and enchanted. You can pick anything, just something that you can keep on you and then give to him once we've done the last bit of the spell to let him be on his own." The mummy explained, Frankie not really following. "I wouldn't use something to large since I think Ghoulia was told that he'd have to keep on him at all times that summoning object for a while if not forever…." She said, Ghoulia nodding in confirmation.

Frankie scrunched up her face as she tried to think about what she could possibly use. Jackson nudged her and she watched in confusion as he took off his bow tie and handed it to her. She looked at him with a smirk on her face. "Oh, come on. Bowties are cool." He said, looking a little nervous at defending his fashion choice to her. Frankie giggled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You can pull it off but I don't know about him…" Frankie said, looking over the statue. She shivered at the look on the golem's face as he eternally reached out in a menacing manner towards whomever or whatever was in his grasp.

Ghoulia moaned and Frankie shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, focusing on being optimistic about what her friends had set up for her. "But I suppose it'll work. Thank you Jackson." she said with a meaningful smile to her boyfriend. Jackson blushed and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, Ghoulia laughing at his shyness. Cleo rolled her eyes but took the bowtie. "I didn't think you'd want to help out anymore. And you're giving your bowtie to the guy that tried to kill you?" she asked of Jackson who simply shrugged. "I have others. Besides, this way, knowing that the thing that he's forced to be connected to is mine is kinda like I won that duel after all." He said, Frankie smacking him on the arm.

"You did win that duel. You're alive and you've got the girl, so long as you don't suddenly get all cocky on me." She said. "Heath's bad enough on his own, you don't need to add to it." She said, Jackson nodding in agreement on that observation. Ghoulia moaned again to Jackson as Cleo worked to perform the incantations correctly and apply the inscription to the golem. Jackson sighed, "I know Ghoulia. I told Hoodude to meet us here. I've no idea where he went…he's kinda hard to keep track of."

Frankie made a noise of understanding as to why they'd call in Hoodude, considering that he was the only other person they knew of who might be able to talk Midas through what was happening, especially since both of them had an attachment to Frankie at one point. Frankie was about to suggest calling him again herself when she saw the usual lazy gait of the voodoo doll she'd created and unknowing given an actual consciousness to when she'd built him. Hoodude smiled and gave her a wave, Frankie breaking away from Jackson's side to give her friend a hug.

"I really appreciate this Hoodude. You don't have to but I'm glad you're here to help." She said to him, the voodoo doll's head flopping to the side as he smiled back at her. "'Course I do Frankie. You're my friend. You may have built me to be your boyfriend but I'm always gonna want to be there for you." He said, Frankie looking sheepish as he bluntly stated that awkward detail. "I can help him. You know, as long as he's not gonna try and tear my limbs off. Getting the stuffing back into place just right takes a while." He said, Frankie shaking her head and laughing. Looking over to Cleo to see the mummy appearing to be almost done, she dragged Hoodude to stand next to Jackson, the doll being his usual overfriendly self and flinging an arm around Jackson.

"Hey…something's different." Hoodude said, looking over Jackson who just rolled his eyes. "I know. You changed your eye color." He said, Jackson rubbing a hand across his face. "Hoodude, humans can't just change their eye color like you can interchange your buttons. We need contacts to do that and I have my glasses on right now." Jackson patiently explained while Frankie and Ghoulia laughed at the boys. "I'm just not wearing my bowtie, that's all." Jackson answered, the doll making a drawn out sound of recognition.

A yellow glow signaled that Cleo had finished and she handed the bowtie to Frankie. She handed her a rolled up piece of paper with an inscription on it and instructed Frankie to tap it against the golem's lips before placing the bowtie on it. "Does it have to be me to put it back on him?" she asked, fidgeting a little. Cleo huffed in exasperation, "Frankie, you're the one he got so attached to. Better to do this for the both of you to be able to move on. Now come on and stop stalling" she said. Ghoulia looked like she wanted to say something to her friend about being a little more gentle with Frankie but it seemed that push was exactly what Frankie needed. Frankie took a deep breath before doing as Cleo said, watching as the inscription disappeared from her hand and then placing the bowtie on the statue. She stepped back as it seemed to crack, a soft golden glow breaking through the cracks as the hardened clay fell off. They all gasped as Midas was suddenly freed, stumbling forward a little into Frankie, who caught him and righted him. The golem looked around confused before focusing on Frankie, who gave him a tentative smile.

"Midas?" she asked in a small voice, looking him over anxiously to see if he would suddenly try and scoop her up and run off again. But the golem straightened himself out and gave his usual polite nod to Frankie. "Greetings mistress. How am I to serve you?" he asked, Frankie letting out a relieved sigh. "It's good to see you again. I apologize for any previous actions that might have aggrieved you. I appear to have had such faults addressed and may be of continued use." He said to her. Frankie looked over her shoulder to Jackson who seemed a little on edge too. Turning back to Midas she cleared her thought before addressing him again. "No more of those kinds of plans to turn me into a wax doll?" she asked, "No urges to keep my friends away or to kill Jackson?" she asked cautiously. She didn't think the golem would lie to her if she asked a direct question, but she wasn't certain about anything at the moment.

Midas cocked his head to the side. "I will not alter you in any way unless specified or you are in immediate mortal peril from an illness or injury." He said. "Do you wish for me to kill him?" he asked. "No! No…Midas, no" Frankie yelled, eyes wide and gestured wildly. "No. Jackson is my boyfriend." Frankie said, looking over to him and biting her lip. Jackson looked at her in exasperation, Frankie mouthing an apology to him as Jackson shook his head. "Cleo, how do I do this safely?" she asked her friend, hoping to move things along before she did or said something else that could lead to problems. The mummy looked a little startled but shook it off, motioning to Ghoulia to do something. The zombie took something from her bag that looked like a sculpting tool. Handing it to Frankie, Cleo explained to her to repeat after her and hand it to Midas.

Frankie looked skeptical that this could be so simple, the mummy princess picking up on that. "What? Would you prefer we conjure a thunderstorm and chant in unison or something? Just take the tool and repeat what I told you. It's supposed to give him control over himself, you know, symbolically and literally handing over the right to carve his own way in life." She said. Frankie shrugged but did as her friends suggested, the golem taking the tool and simply staring at it in his hand for a moment.

"Midas? You okay?" Frankie asked. The golem looked back up at her, genuine happiness in his eyes. He gave her a real smile and Frankie smiled back, but was taken by surprise when the golem rushed forward and pulled her to him in a tight hug. Jackson looked like he was about to spring into action too, but Midas released Frankie before he had the chance to do anything. "Thank you Frankie. I really do appreciate this." He said, Frankie widely smiling at him in return. "And I promise I am perfectly alright. I do want to be your friend, and I am sorry for all the trouble I caused you and your friends." He said, looking over to Jackson as he said this. "But you have taught me well; given me the care of a friend and let me learn about making my own decisions and how to navigate this land. Oh, but what do I do now?" he said, looking back to her from his gazing around the schoolyard as though seeing it anew. "Will I be alone?" he asked, sounding more fearful than anything.

Frankie took Midas' hands in her own and gave him a sympathetic look. "Midas, you can do whatever you want- within reason of course. You don't need me to tell you what you have to do for yourself or for anybody else. And you're not alone. I'll still be here to be your friend, but Hoodude here can help you out too. Maybe he can help you find a place to stay…I don't think my parents will allow you to spend the night at my house after all that's happened." She said, the others nodding in agreement.

Hoodude walked over to the newly released golem. "Hey buddy. Frankie made me too. We can be like brothers!" Hoodude said, wrapping an arm around the golem's shoulders. Frankie winced at that, looking to Jackson who seemed to not be sure whether or not to find that humorous. Midas looked to Frankie and back to Hoodude before slinging an arm around the doll's shoulders as well, the two of them walking off to talk.

"Oh, look at that." Cleo said in a tone meant to sound fond. "Aren't you two proud parents?" She said teasingly to Frankie and Jackson. "Hey, I had nothing to do with those monsters." Jacksons said, holding up his hands in surrender, causing Cleo and Ghoulia to giggle while Frankie hung her head in embarrassment. "Alright. I suppose that's enough humiliation for today. I'm satisfied." Cleo said, still smiling in her mirth. She and Ghoulia walked away, leaving Frankie and Jackson alone to process things, Cleo calling out for Frankie to call her later or to come over. Jackson pulled Frankie to him in a hug, the Frankenstein monster resting her head against his chest as they stood there for a moment, feeling as though a huge weight had been removed. They were about to head back to Jackson's car when Hoodude came running back.

Frankie walked over to see what the voodoo doll was doing crouching on the ground and putting something into his jacket. "Hoodude, did you leave Midas alone already?" Frankie asked in concern, but she could see the golem standing a little farther away. She noticed that he wasn't wearing the bowtie around his neck anymore, instead spotting a blue ribbon that had tied his shoulder-length hair back into a tiny ponytail. She smirked at that, deciding not to immediately crush Jackson's triumphant mood over that detail. "Midas said he wanted to maybe build a girl golem. You can help." Hoodude said, Frankie noticing that Hoodude was gathering up the old outer clay that Midas had been trapped inside. Frankie looked over to Jackson with a panicked face. "You can give him a girlfriend. Or if you make her would that make her a sister? But don't make her both – that'd be just weird and wrong…" Hoodude rambled, not observing how Frankie was rapidly becoming overwhelmed. "I dunno. He just didn't want to be the only one. He said he could use this clay 'cuz it was enchanted clay to make him."

Frankie put a hand on Hoodude's shoulder. "Okay Hoodude, but don't do anything too soon, alright? Try and let him enjoy being himself for a while, you know, to really figure out who he." She said, the voodoo doll nodding before taking off the head back to wherever he lived, taking Midas with him. Frankie covered her face in her hands and groaned, Jackson wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, you should be feeling relieved. You got everybody to have a happy ending." He said, laughing a little at her dilemma of having the possibility of another creation lingering in the future. He knew she wouldn't tell Midas that she wouldn't do that for him if the golem couldn't do it on his own. But the thought of having three creations that saw her as a friend or as possible more did seem a little strange. _Then again_, he thought, _this is a school for monsters_, _and strange was just something to come to expect_. Frankie sighed but nodded to her boyfriend, leaning her head on his shoulder as they stood by his car. "Yeah. Everybody's all healed and we're back to normal again. But it sure did take a long time to get to the happy ending." She said, sitting in the passenger's seat as Jackson held the door open for her. "Yeah, but that's what makes them so worthwhile." He smiled to her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek before shutting the door. Frankie relaxed back into the seat, thinking over Jackson's words. As they drove away, she smiled and looked back at the school, feeling like the fairytale she had thought this situation had started out as really had come to the point where they move on with the happily ever after.


End file.
